UMASS/AMHERST  « 


312Dt.bDllflflD3Dt. 


WDSTHROP  CHAPTER 


HISTORIC  GUIDE  TO 
CAMBRIDGE 


WASlilNUTUN  ELM 


AN    HISTORIC    GUIDE 


TO 


CAMBRIDGE 


COMPILED  BY  MEMBERS  OF  THE  HANNAH  WINTHROP  CHAPTER 

NATIONAL  SOCIETY,  DAUGHTERS  OF  THE 

AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


Know  old  Cambridge?    Hope  you  do. 
Born  there?    Don't  say  so!     I  was  too. 
The  nicest  place  that  ever  was  seen. 
Colleges  red,  and  common  green. 
Sidewalks  brownish  with  trees  between. 

O.  W.  Holmes. 


Second  Edition,  Revised. 


CAMBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS 

1907 


Copyright^  1907 
By  Hannah  Winthrop  Chapter,  N.S.D.  A.  R. 


PREFACE 


EVERY  year  hundreds  of  tourists  come  to  Cambridge  reverencing 
it  as  one  of  the  earliest  settled  towns  of  New  England — the  home 
for  nearly  three  centuries  of  Harvard  College  and  of  many  eminent 
men,  and  the  first  camp  of  the  American  army  of  the  Revolution. 
Guides  who  show  strangers  the  points  of  interest  are  often  poorly 
furnished  with  reliable  information,  and  many  residents  are  hardly 
better  informed.  In  presenting  this  volume  through  its  Pilgrimage 
Committee,  formed  in  1902  to  provide  reliable  guidance  for  D.  A.  R. 
chapters  visiting  Cambridge,  the  Hannah  Winthrop  Chapter  hopes  to 
be  of  service  to  all  those,  both  stranger  and  resident,  who  are  interested 
in  the  history  of  the  city. 

Since  1905  about  two  thirds  of  the  articles  here  published  in  book 
form  have  appeared  in  the  columns  of  The  Cambridge  Tribune^  through 
the  courtesy  of  the  editor,  Mr.  Edward  F.  Gamwell,  under  whose  super- 
vision they  were  printed.  To  Lucius  R.  Paige's  History  of  Cambridge 
the  committee  has  turned  as  authority  for  facts  of  history.  County 
records  and  private  papers  have  been  carefully  read,  and  the  utmost 
accuracy  of  statement  sought.  Some  mistakes  have  doubtless  occurred, 
but  as  far  as  possible  dates  have  been  verified  by  reference  to  wills, 
deeds,  histories,  and  biographies.  The  original  lots  of  land  granted 
to  the  first  settlers  are  here  described,  and  the  names  of  their  owners, 
with  subsequent  transfers  given  from  early  to  recent  times.  Many 
of  the  cuts  have  been  made  expressly  for  this  book,  and  appear  for  the 
first  time. 

The  Committee  wishes  to  thank  Miss  Caroline  E.  Peabody  for  the 
use  of  her  photograph  of  Craigie  House ;  Mr.  George  D.  Ford  for 
taking  the  photographs  of  the  Waterhouse,  Thomas  Lee,  and  Hicks 
houses ;  the  following  named  for  the  use  of  cuts  or  photographs :  the 
City  Clerk  and  Park  Commissioners  of  Cambridge,  Rev.  Alexander 
McKenzie,  Rev.  Edward  Abbott,  Stephen  W.  Driver,  M.D.,  Miss  Alice 
Longfellow,  Mrs.  Joseph  B.  Warner,  Miss  Elizabeth  Harris,  Miss  Eliza- 
beth E.  Dana,  Mrs.  Forbes,  Mr.  Alfred  Powell,  Mr.  Louis  F.  Weston, 
Caustic  and  Claflin  ;  the  following  publishers :  Little,  Brown,  &  Co., 
for  cuts  from  the  works  of  Samuel  Adams  Drake  ;  Ginn  &  Co.,  for  two 


PREFACE 

cuts  from  Freese's  "  Historic  Spots "" ;  the  editor  of  "  James  Murray, 
Loyalist "  ;  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. ;  the  editor  of  the  Harvard  Mag- 
azine^ and  Harvard  Library  officials,  for  the  uniform  courtesy  shown 
and  for  permission  to  use  manuscript  drawings  and  maps. 

To  the  many  who  have  helped  with  words  of  encouragement,  infor- 
mation, and  the  loan  of  original  documents,  the  Committee  gratefully 
expresses  its  appreciation.  No  one  sees  more  clearly  than  the  com- 
pilers the  incompleteness  of  the  Historic  Guide,  but  it  is  a  sincere 
attempt  to  give  the  public  the  most  important  facts  out  of  the  great 
mass  of  material  at  hand. 

THE   PILGRLMAGE   COMMITTEE. 


Miss  Marion  Brown  Fessenden,  Chairman 

Miss  Carrie  J.   Allison 

Mrs.  Margaret  J.   Bradburv 

Mrs.  Adah  L.  C.   Brock 

Mrs.  Jennie  L.   Richardson  Bunton 

Miss  Laura  B.  Chamberlain 

Miss  Elizabeth  Ellery  Dana 

Miss  Althea  M.  Dorr 

Mrs.  Sybil  C.  Emerton 

Mrs.  Lilian  Fisk  Ford 

Mrs.  Mary  W.  Greely  Goodridge 

Mrs.  Mary  Isabella  James  Gozzaldi 

Miss  Elizabeth  Harris 

Mrs.  Agnes  H.  Holden 

Miss  Eliza  Mason  Hoppin 

Miss  Alice  M.  Longfellow 

Miss  Henrietta  E.  McIntire,  M.  A, 

Mrs.  Stella  R.  McKenzie 

Mrs.  Nellie  Munboe  Nash 

Miss  Lydia  Phillips  Stevens 

Mrs.  Grace  Jones  Wardwell 

Mrs.  Annie  L.  Locke  Wentworth 

Mrs.  Estella  Hatch  Weston 

Mrs.  Isabella  Stewart  Whittemore 

Miss  Sarah  Alice  Worcester,  M.  A. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Washington  Elm Frontispiece 

Old  Mile  Stone Title-page 

Harvard  Square  in  1863 Facing  page     8 

Harvard  Square  in  1865 "  "       10 

Meeting- House  in  College  Yard,  1756-1833 "  "14 

The  Wigglesworth  House "  "       l6 

Old  Parsonage,  1670-1843 «  «       18 

A   Westerly   View   of  the  Colleges  in  Cambridge,  New 

England,  engraved  by  Paul  Revere "  "20 

Wadsworth  House,  built  in  1 726 "  "22 

John  Hicks  House "  "58 

Apthorp  House "  "76 

William  Winthrop  House "  "80 

Read  House "  "90 

Brattle  House "  "90 

Vassall  House  —  Medical  Headquarters.     Exterior ...  "  "94 

Vassall  House  —  Medical  Headquarters.     Interior  ...  "  "      QQ 

Washington's  Headquarters  —  John  Vassall-Craigie  House  "  "     100 

Tory  Row "  "     104 

House  of  Judge  Joseph  Lee "  "106 

Lechmere-Sewall  House "  "110 

Fayerweather  House "  "110 

Elmwood "  "112 

Cambridge  Common  in   1805,  from  a  watercolor  sketch 

by  D.  Bell "  "    122 

Christ  Church  in  1792,  from  an  old  engraving     ....  "  "130 

The  Old  Towne  Burying  Ground "  "134 

Headstone,  Old  Burying  Ground,  Garden  street      ...  "  "     136 

Washington  Elm  and  House  of  Deacon  Josiah  Moore  .     .  "  '^'     1 40 

Waterhouse  House "  "142 

Watson-Davenport   House,  Massachusetts   Avenue    near 

Rindge  Avenue "  "146 

The  Davenport  Tavern,  formerly  corner  of  Massachusetts 

Avenue  and  Beech  street "  "146 

Cooper-Hill- Austin  House.     Back  and  Front "  "     148 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Holmes  House Facing  page  ISg 

Phillips- Ware-Norton  House "         "       164- 

House  of  Chief  Justice  Dana .     .  "         "       l68 

The  Inman  House .  "         "172 

Fort  Washington "         "180 


WOODCUTS  IN  TEXT 

Harvard  College  Lottery  Ticket Page  28 

Third  Court  House,  1758,  from  drawing  in  College  Library     .      .  "30 

House  of  Moses  Richardson "156 


MAPS 

Map  of  Cambridge  in  1 907 Inside  front  cover 

Map  A.     Cambridge  Village Page  34 

Map  B.     Cambridge  in  1775 "       82 

Map  C.     Cambridge  Common  in  1775 "124 


ITINERARY 


For  the  convenience  of  strangers  a  map  of  Cambridge,  of  the  present 
time,  has  been  placed  on  the  inside  front  cover  of  this  guide,  and  the 
following  I'oute  laid  out :  — 

Harvard  Square  and  neighborhood,  pp.  8-20,  29-83.     See  Map  A,  p.  34. 
Harvard  College  Yard,  pp.  20-28 
Brattle  Street.     See  Map  B,  p.  83. 

No.  42,  Brattle  House,  Social  Union,  pp.  83-91. 

No.  55,  Read  House,  pp.  91-92. 

Corner  of  Mason  street.  Episcopal  Theological  School,  pp.  92-94. 

No.  90,  John  Fiske  House,  p.  99. 

No.  94,  VassaU  House,  pp.  94-99. 

No.  105,  Craigie-Longfellow  House,  Washington's  Headquarters,  pp.  99-104. 

No.  121,  Worcester  House,  p.  105. 

No.  145,  Site  of  Lechmere-Sewall-Riedesel  House,  pp.  104-107. 

No.  149,  Lechmere-Sewall-Riedesel  House,  p.  107. 

No.  153,  Thomas  Lee  House,  p.  109. 

No.  159,  Judge  Joseph  Lee  House,  pp.  107-109. 

No.  175,  Ruggles-Fayerweather  House,  pp.  109-110. 
Elmwood  Avenue,  Oliver-Gerry-Lowell  House,  pp.  110-119. 

Mount  Auburn  Street,  turn  to  left,  corner  Channing  street.  Burial-place  of  Revo- 
lutionary soldiers,  p.  113. 

Near  corner  of  Hawthorn  street,  Dudley-Lowell  willows,  p.  6. 
Ash  Street,  site  of  Palisades,  cross  Brattle  street  to  Mason  to  Common. 

Around  Common,  Map  C,  p.  124,  pp.  121-142.     Washington  Elm,  p.  123. 

To   right,  Radcliffe  College,  pp.  126-127.      Christ  Church,  pp.   128-134.      Old 
Burying-ground,  pp.  134-139. 

To  left,  from  Elm,  Waterhouse  street,  Waterhouse  House,  pp.  141-142. 
Garden  Street,  to  Harvard  Observatory  and  Botanic  Garden,  p.  141. 
LiNNiEAN  Street,  No.  21,  Cooper-Hill- Austin  House,  oldest  house  standing  in  original 

state,  pp.  148-152. 
Massachusetts  Avenue,  old  Turnpike  to  Lexington,  pp.  6-7,  142-148. 

Return  to  Common,  Holmes  place,  pp.  153-160.         Turn  to  left. 
Kirkland  Street,  King's  Highway,  pp.  5,  7,  160-164. 

No.  7,  Birthplace  of  Colonel  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  p.  160. 

Site  of  Danforth-Foxcroft  Estate,  pp.  160-163.     Memorial  Hall,  p.  163. 

Oxford  street  to  Agassiz  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  (glass  flowers).  Pea- 
body  Ethnological  Museum,  Semitic  Museum,  Divinity  avenue,  p.  164. 

Irving  street,  Phillips-Norton  House,  p.  164. 


ITINERARY 

Massachusetts  Avenue,  corner  of  Dana,  site  of  home  of  Chief-Justice  Francis  Dana, 
pp.  164-170. 
Corner  Inman  street,  City  Hall,  site  of  Inman  House,  pp.  171-177. 
Brookline  street,  corner  of  Auburn,  Inman  House,  p.  171. 
Bhooklixe  Street  to  Allston,  Fort  Washington,  pp.  179-180. 

East  Cambridge,  site  of  Landing  of  the  British  soldiers.  Court  House,  Prison,  Probate 
Office,  Registry  of  Deeds,  pp.  180-185. 


BUILDINGS   NOW    STANDING    ERECTED   1642-1800. 

•  Slightly  altered. 

**  But  little  of  the  original  remaining. 
***  Date  approximate. 

•*1642.    Henry  A^assall  House,  94  Brattle  street. 
1657.     Cooper-Hill-Austin  House,  21  Linnaean  street. 
(?)1692.    Dickson-Goddard-I'itch     House,    Massachusetts    avenue,    near    Cedar 

street. 
^**16S5.    Hooper-Lee-Nichols  House,  159  Brattle  street. 

1720.    Massachusetts  Hall,  College  Yard. 
***1726.    Reed  rRead)  House.  55  Brattle  street. 
1726.    Wadsworth  House,  College  Yard. 
*1727.    Brattle  House,  42  Brattle  street. 
1744.    Holden  Chapel,  College  Yard. 
***1740.    William  Vassall-Waterhouse-Ware  House,  7  Waterhouse  street. 
1763.    Hollis  Hall,  College  Yard. 
*1756.    Inman  House,  Brookline  and  Auburn  streets. 
1757.    Jacob  Watson  HoHse,  2162  Massachusetts  avenue. 
**1758.    Court  House,  Palmer  street. 

1759.  John  Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow  House,  105  Brattle  street. 
***1760.    Lechmere-Sewell-Riedesel   House,  149   Brattle  street. 

***1760.    Marrett-Ruggles-Fayerweather-Wells-Newell  Plouse,  175  Brattle  street. 
***1760.    01iver-Gerry-Lo^Yell  House,  Elmwood  avenue. 

1760.  Christ  Church,  Garden  street. 

***1760.  Edward  Marrett  House,  77  Moimt  Auburn  street. 

***1760.  John  Hicks  House,  67  Dunster  street. 

***1760.  Apthorp  House,  I-inden  street. 

1766.  Harvard  Hall,  College  Yard. 

***1790.  Phillips- Ware-Norton   House,   Irving   street. 

***1799.  Thomas  Lee  House,  153  Brattle  street. 

*  Professor  John  and  Madame  Hannah  Winthrop  House,   Boylston  and 
Mount  Auburn  streets. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 


THE  OLD  TOWN  OF  XEWTOWNE,  AND  ITS  FOUNDER. 

New  Towne,  on  the  Charles  (now  Cambridge),  was  a  village  bounded  north- 
erly by  Harvard  square,  westerly  by  Brattle  square  and  Eliot  street,  southerly 
by  the  river  and  easterly  by  Holyoke  street,  then  very  crooked.  It  consisted 
of  four  streets  parallel  with  the  river,  crossed  at  nearly  right  angles  by  four 
streets  running  north  and  south.  Crooked  (Holyoke)  street  was  the  most 
easterly  of  these;  next  came  Water  (Dunster)  street  and  Wood  (Boylston) 
street,  the  most  westerly  being  a  semi-circular  road,  called,  at  the  river  end. 
Marsh  lane  (Eliot  street),  and,  towards  the  north.  Creek  lane  (Brattle  square). 
The  street  running  parallel  with  the  river,  and  nearest  to  it,  was  Marsh  lane 
(South  street)  next  Long  lane  (Winthrop  street)  then  Spring  lane  (Mount 
Auburn  street),  the  present  Harvard  square  being  called  Brairitree  street, 
after  the  old  English  home  of  some  of  the  earliest  settlers. 

The  land  was  apportioned  in  house  lots  of  an  acre  or,  more  commonly, 
half  an  acre,  called  the  home  lot,  with  farm  and  wood  lots  in  different  places 
some  distance  away.  Of  all  the  houses  of  New  Towne,  not  one  remains,  and 
of  only  one  have  we  a  picture,  the  house  (later  called  the  Wigglesworth 
House)  that  stood  in  the  college  yard,  on  Braintree  street,  built  for  the  first 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker.  Probably  the  houses  were  like  the  timber 
houses  of  their  day  in  England,  with  a  large  square  chimney  in  the  centre. 
We  know  that  thatched  houses  were  forbidden;  they  must  have  been  tiled 
or  shingled. 

Wood,  in  his  "New  England  Prospect,"  written  in  1633,  thus  describes  New 
Towne:  "This  is  one  of  the  neatest  and  best  compacted  towns  of  New 
\England,  having  many  fine  structures,  with  many  handsome  contrived 
streets.  The  inhabitants,  most  of  them,  are  very  rich,  and  well  stored  with 
cattle  of  all  sorts,  having  many  hundred  acres  of  land  paled  in  with  a 
general  fence,  which  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  which  secures  all 
their  weaker  cattle  from  the  wild  beasts."  We  wish  he  might  have  given 
a  more  definite  description  of  one  of  the  "fair  structures."  But  a  few  re- 
mained till  within  the  memory  of  some  now  living;  these  we  shall  later 
Vdescribe. 

The  would-be  settler,  or  the  visitor  from  Boston,  usually  approached 
New  Towne  either  by  ship  or  the  ferry,  landing  at  the  "sufRcient  bridge,"  at 
the  foot  of  Water  (Dunster)  street.     His  attention  would  be  drawn  at  once 

1 


S,  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

to   the   fine  mansion   of   Governor   Tiiomas  Dudley,  overlooking  the  river.    At 
the  corner  of  Marsh  lane   (South  street)  a  tablet  now  marks  the  spot. 

Governor  Thomas  Dudley,  the  founder  of  Cambridge,  is  a  connecting  link 
between  us  and  English  history.  His  father,  Captain  Roger  Dudley,  was 
killed  in  the  Battle  of  Ivry,  having  been  sent  by  Queen  Elizabeth  to  aid 
the  King  of  Navarre.  After  serving  several  years  as  page  in  the  family  of 
Lord  Compton,  where,  in  the  words  of  Cotton  Mather,  "he  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  learn  courtship  and  whatever  belonged  to  civility  and  good  be- 
havior," Thomas  Dudley  received.  In  1597,  a  commission  as  captain  from 
Queen  Elizabeth,  to  assist  Henry  of  Navarre  in  the  siege  of  Amiens,  then  in 
the  hands  of  the  Spaniards.  On  the  conclusion  of  peace,  he  returned  to  his 
native  town,  Northampton,  where  he  married  Dorothy  Torke,  "a  gentle- 
woman of  good  estate  and  good  extraction."  He  was  then  appointed  to 
the  position  of  clerk  to  Judge  Nicolls,  a  jurist  of  high  reputation  for  special 
judiciary  endowments  and  exemplary  integrity.  This  intimate  association 
must  liave  been  of  inestimable  value  in  fitting  Dudley  for  tlie  part  he  was 
to  take  in  moulding  our  early  forms  of  government. 

Judge  Nicolls  died  in  1616,  when  Dudley  was  forty  years  of  age.  During 
the  fourteen  years  which  elapsed  before  the  great  emigration,  he  was 
steward  to  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  brother  of  the  Lady  Arbella  Johnson,  his 
duties  including  the  management  of  many  estates  and  the  collection  of  in- 
come. The  affairs  of  the  earl  were  "under  great  entanglements,"  owing  to 
years  of  mismanagement,  but,  by  prudent,  careful  direction,  Dudley  found 
means,  in  a  few  years,  to  discharge  all  the  great  debts.  Mather  writes:  "The 
Earl,  finding  him  so  to  be,  would  never,  after  his  acquaintance  with  him, 
do  any  business  of  moment  without  Mr.  Dudley's  counsel  of  advice."  Of 
strong  religious  convictions,  of  firm  moral  and  intellectual  fibre,  polished 
and  courtly  in  manner,  his  views  of  life  broadened  by  his  sojourn  in  France, 
with  the  advantages  of  noble  birth,  of  wide  and  varied  observation  and  ex- 
perience, Thomas  Dudley,  at  the  ripe  age  of  fifty-four,  joined  the  great  emi- 
gration to  America. 

The  "Arbella,"  named  for  the  beautiful  Lady  Arbella  Johnson,  sister  of  the 
Earl  of  Lincoln,  sailed  from  Southampton,  England,  March  22,  1630,  bearing 
the  royal  charter  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  and,  among  other  dis- 
tinguished men,  the  two  who  were  to  play  the  most  important  roles  in  the 
establishment  of  the  colony,  John  Winthrop,  governor,  with  his  two  sons, 
and  Thomas  Dudley,  deputy-governor,  with  his  wife  (Dorothy  Torke),  his 
son  Samuel  and  four  daughters.  After  an  unusually  rough  passage,  they 
arrived  off  Salem  harbor,  June  22,  1630.  But  "Salem  pleased  them  not,"  and, 
after  a  few  days,  they  went  in  search  of  another  abode  suitable  for  a  cap- 
ital city.  Two  expeditions  were  sent  out,  one  led  by  John  Winthrop,  the 
other  by  Thomas  Dudley.    Each  made  a  different  selection,  but    finally  com- 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  3 

promised  on  Charlestown.  "Want  of  water  and  other  reasons  led  them  to 
seek  a  more  favorable  location,  and  New  Towne  was  chosen.  They  agreed 
to  build  there,  but  Governor  Winthrop  removed  his  home  to  Boston,  and 
of  the  government  only  Dudley  and  the  secretary,  Simon  Bradstreet,  re- 
mained in  Cambridge. 

During  the  twenty-two  years  of  his  connection  with  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  Colony,  Thomas  Dudley  filled,  for  seventeen  years,  the  first  or  second 
place  in  the  gift  of  the  people.  He  believed  in  rotation  in  office  and  the  dates 
of  his  election  as  governor,  recurring  somewhat  regularly  after  a  period  of  five 
years,  indicate  that  he  carried  this  principle  into  practice.  Governor  Dud- 
ley was  active  in  the  founding  of  Harvard  College.  His  name  and  that  of 
Mr.  Bellingham  head  the  list  of  the  committee  of  twelve  appointed  by  the  gen- 
eral court,  November  15,  1637,  to  consider  its  establishment.  He  signed  the 
^charter  and  was  in  the  board  of  overseers  until  his  death. 

The  first  house  in  Cambridge,  that  built  by  Governor  Dudley  (on  the  corner 
of  Dunster  and  South  streets),  in  the  spring  of  1631,  was  probably  a  large, 
commodious  mansion,  suitable  for  the  entertainment  of  public  and  private 
friends.  One  of  the  epitaphs  called  forth  by  his  death  describes  the  governor 
as  follows: 

/   "In     books   a    prodigal,  they  say 
/     A  living  cyclopedia; 
I     Of   histories   of   church  and  priest 
\    A   full   compendium    at  least; 
\   A    table-talker   rich    in  sense, 
'  And   witty,    without   wit's  pretense; 

An  able  champion  in  debate, 

"Whose  words  lacked  numbers,  but  not  weight; 

And  of  that  faith  both  sound  and  old, 
■   Both    Catholic   and    Christian  too. 
!    A   soldier   trusty,    tried  and  true; 

New    England's    senate's  crowning  grace, 
\  In  merit  truly  as  in  place; 

Condemned   to   share   the  common  doom, 

Reposes    here    in    Dudley's    tomb." 

Could  We  have  stepped  into  his  study,  we  should  have  found  among  the 
books  he  brought  from  England  a  "General  History  of  the  Netherlands." 
This  country  had  contributed  largely  to  the  Puritan  ideas  of  religion,  educa- 
tion and  liberty,  and  we  may  easily  believe  It  was  one  of  his  constant 
studies.  "The  Turkish  History"  and  "Swedish  Intelligencer"  indicate 
breadth  of  investigation.  His  "Livius"  and  Latin  dictionary  and  eight 
French  books  point  to  his  classical  taste,  Camden's  "Annals  of  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth" and  "Commentaries  of  the  Wars  of  France"  would  have  had  a  per- 
sonal interest  to  one  who  had  lived  through  those  times  and  who,  as  well  as 
his  father,  had  fought  in  France.  Books  in  theology,  history,  law  and  educa- 
tion   all   reflect  his   liberality  of  mind. 


A 


4  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

Could  we  have  looked  into  the  dining-  room,  when  no  visitors  were  present, 
we  should  have  found  gathered  around  the  family  board  Mrs.  Dorothy 
Dudley,  the  "worthy  matron  of  unspotted  life,"  Samuel,  the  eldest  son, 
who,  soon  after,  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Governor  Winthrop;  Anne,  the 
youthful  bride  of  Simon  Bradstreet,  so  gifted  by  the  muses  that  she  has 
been  styled  the  "morning  star  of  American  poetry,"  and  the  three  younger 
sisters,   Patience,   Sarah  and   Mercy. 

We  should,  doubtless,  have  heard  stories  from  the  lips  of  the  governor  that 
would  be  worth  preserving;  of  his  life  as  a  page  in  the  family  of  Lord 
Compton,  when  he  served  milady  in  her  bov/er,  or  followed  milord  to  the 
camp;  of  his  experiences  at  a  soldier  in  France;  of  his  clerkship  to  that 
eminent  jurist,  Judge  Nicolls;  and  of  his  part  in  the  great  emigration  to 
America. 

But  Cambridge  was  not  long-  to  keep  this  distinguished  settler.  When 
Rev.  Thomas  Hooker  and  the  Braintree  Company  left  to  found  Hartford, 
in  Connecticut,  Governor  Thomas  Dudley  removed  to  Ipswich  and  from  there 
to  Roxbury,  where  his  wife  died,  in  1643.  Soon  after,  he  married  Katherine, 
widow  of  Samuel  Hagburne,  and  had  a  second  family  of  three  children — Jo- 
seph, Deborah  and  Paul.  He  died  in  Roxbury,  July  31,  1653,  in  the  seventy- 
seventh  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  in  one  of  the  oldest  cemeteries  in 
New  England,   at   the   corner  of  Washington    and    Eustis    streets,    Roxbury. 

Is  it  not  strange  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  tablet  that  marks  the 
site  of  his  house,  there  is  no'  memorial  of  this  illustrious  man  in  the  city  which 
he   founded,    no   avenue,   no   square,    no  monument  bearing  his  name? 

S.  A.  W. 

THE  CHARLES  RIVER,  FERRY  AND  GREAT  BRIDGE. 

THE  CHARLES  RIVER.— The  Charles  River,  anciently  called  Qulneboquin, 
was  the  natural  boundary  between  two  hostile  tribes  of  Indians.  It  rises  in 
Hopkinton,  and,  flowing  in  a  circuitous  course,  enters  Boston  harbor  at 
Charlestown.  It  is  navigable  for  sloops  and  schooners  of  several  hundred  tons 
burden,  as  far  as  Brighton.  At  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution,  four 
fortifications  were  erected  on  its  banks:  Forts  Washington,  No.  1,  Putnam, 
and   a   three-gun   battery   at   Captain's   Island. 

FERRY.— In  1635,  a  ferry  was  established  across  the  Charles  River  at  the 
southerly  end  of  Dunster  street,  and  was  the  only  route  from  Cambridge  to 
Boston,  by  the  way  of  Roxbury.  In  1636,  the  town  ordered  that  Joseph  Cooke, 
the  friend  of  the  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Shepard  (who  lived  on  Holyoke  street,  near 
Holyoke  place),  "should  keep  the  ferry  and  have  a  penny  ov- 
er and  a  half-penny  on  lecture  days."  As  there  was  a  large 
amount  of  travel  on  the  ferry,  especially  on  lecture  days,  and  this 
means  of  crossing  the  river  was  considered  dangerous,  it  was  decided  to 
erect   a  bridge  at   the   foot   of  Brighton   (now  Boylston)   street. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  5 

THE  GREAT  BRIDGE.— The  Great  Bridge  derived  its  name  from  the  fact 
that,  up  to  this  time,  it  was  the  largest  and  finest  in  the  colony.  It  was  built 
in  1662,  at  a  cost  of  £200.  The  cost  of  maiiitaiuing  it  was  so  great  that 
the  court  decided,  in  1670,  that  tolls  should  be  taken.  In  September,  1685, 
a  high  tide  swept  this  bridge  away,  and,  until  it  was  rebuilt  in  1690,  ferriage 
was  resumed.  "When  Newton  was  incorporated  as  a  separate  toTVTi,  tolls 
were  abolished,  and  it  was  ordered  that  Cambridge  should  pay  two-sixths  of 
the  cost  of  maintaining  the  bridge;  Newton,  one-sixth;  and  the  remaining 
three-sixths  at  the  public  charge  of  the  county  of  Middlesex.  Newton  was  ex- 
empted from  its  share  in  1781.  When  Lexington  was  incorporated,  in  1712- 
13,  and  West  Cambridge,  in  1807,  they  shared  in  this  expense  until  1860.  In 
1862,  the  general  court  finally  settled  the  matter  by  making  Cambridge  and 
Brighton  share  the  expense  of  the  bridge.  It  decreed  that  a  drav/  not  less 
than  32  feet  wide  should  be  constructed  at  an  equal  distance  from  each  abut- 
ment, and  that  the  dividing  line  should  be  the  opening  in  the  middle  of  the 
draw.  WTien  Lord  Percy  led  his  marines  from  Roxbury  to  Cambridge,  he 
found  the  planks  removed  from  the  Great  Bridge.  As  the  frugal  Commit- 
tee of  Safety  had  unwisely  piled  the  boards  on  the  Cambridge  side,  Lord 
Percy  ordered   some  of  his   soldiers  to  cross    on    the    stringers    and    replace 

enough  of  them  to  allow  the  troops  to  pass  over. 

N.  M.  N. 


THE   KING'S   HIGHWAY. 

Charlestown  and  Watertown  were  settled  before  Cambridge.  A  pathway 
led  from  one  of  these  towns  to  the  other,  which  was  later  made  the  King's 
Highway.  It  entered  the  town  along  the  present  Kirkland  street,  passed 
Holmes  place,  crossed  the  common  to  the  Washington  Elm,  then  through 
Mason  and  Brattle  streets  and  Elmwood  avenue,  where  it  passed  the  up- 
per ferry  (to  Brighton)  and  then  continued  on  to  Watertown.  In  the  earliest 
times,  this  was  the  only  road. 

The  first  settlement  was  between  this  road  and  the  river,  south  of  the  com- 
mon, and  the  first  thing  that  Governor  Dudley  and  the  new  settlers  did, 
in  1631,  was  to  widen  the  Charles  River  "for  convenience  of  ships,"  making 
a  canal,  or  creek,  "twelve  foot  broad  and  seven  foot  deep,"  so  that  ships 
could  land  at  South  street.  It  came  along  the  side  of  Eliot  street,  then 
called  Creek  lane,  as  far  as  Brattle  square,  where,  in  1636,  a  causeway  and 
foot-bridge  over  it  were  constructed.  This  canal  was  built  by  .John  Masters 
and  cost  thirty  pounds,  which  was  levied  out  of  the  several  plantations. 
That  same  winter,  the  ferry  at  the  foot  of  Dunster  street  was  made  more  safe 
by  the  construction  of  a  bridge  down  to  low  water  mark,  on  the  Cambridge 
side,  and  a  broad  ladder,  on  the  Brighton  side,  "for  convenience  of  land- 
ing." 


6  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

THE  PALISADES. 

The  next  work  undertaken,  after  the  creek  was  made,  was  the  fortifications, 
and  the  several  plantations  of  New  England  were  assessed  sixty  pounds  to 
build  a  "Pallysadoe  about  the  New  Town."  On  February  3,  1632,  Deputy- 
Governor  Dudley  began  the  work  with  great  enthusiasm.  A  fosse  was  dug, 
willow  trees  planted  and  within  this  a  heavy  wooden  wall  was  begun.  Wall 
and  fosse  are  gone,  though  the  latter  could  be  traced  up  to  eighty  years 
ago.  To  us,  only  the  venerable  willows  remain,  mute  witnesses  to  the  fore- 
thought of  Dudley  and  the  industry  of  the  earliest  settlers.  Dr.  Holmes  says 
that  above  one  thousand  acres  were  enclosed.  The  palisade  began  on  the 
bank  of  the  Charles,  at  Windmill  Hill  (foot  of  Ash  street),  just  west  of 
which  still  stand  the  "five  willows  at  the  causeway's  end,"  that  gave  the 
name  to  one  of  James  Russell  Lowell's  collections  of  poems.  On  Windmill 
Hill  a  windmill  was  early  erected  for  grinding  corn,  as  there  was  no  water- 
mill  nearer  than  Watertown,  but,  in  August,  1632,  it  was  removed  to  Boston, 
because    it    would    only    grind    with    a  westerly  wind. 

The  palisade  ran  northerly  across  the  highway  and  continued  between 
Cliauncy  and  Waterhouse  streets,  crossing  the  turnpike  near  Jarvis  street 
to  Oxford  street,  where  all  trace  of  it  was  lost.  In  March,  1632,  it  was  de- 
cided to  pale  in  the  Neck,  and  forty-two  men  were  appointed  to  take  charge 
of  the  work,  having  from  two  to  seventy  rods  each,  according  to  their  land 
holdings.  Thisi  fence  began  at  the  marsh,  near  the  corner  of  Holyoke  place 
and  Mount  Auburn  street,  passed  the  northwesterly  angle  of  Gore  Hall,  then 
easterly,  crossing  Cambridge  street  near  Ellsworth  avenue,  following  the 
Somerville  line  to  a  creek  a  few  rods  easterly  of  the  track  of  the  Grand 
Junction  Railroad. 

THE  TURNPIKE  (ROAD  TO  MENOTOMY). 

When  the  Great  Bridge  was  built,  in  1662,  a  causeway 
(now  Boylston  street)  connected  it  with  the  town  and,  going  northerly,  be- 
came the  turnpike  which  passed  the  college  buildings  and,  skirting  the  east 
side  of  the  common,  crossing  the  King's  Highway  at  Holmes  place,  continued 
up  what  is  now  Massachusetts  avenue  to  Cambridge  Farms  (Lexington). 
This  was  a  real  country  road,  deep  in  dust  in  summer  and  muddy  or 
rutty,  according  to  the  temperature,  in  winter.  Here  and  there  might  be  seen 
a  tree  left  from  the  original  forest,  or  a  buttonwood  or  elm  planted  by 
some  settler  before  his  house,  but  it  was  mostly  hot  and  unshaded.  On  the 
left,  opposite  Holmes  place,  stood  the  famous  Oak  Tree,  where  the  freeman 
assembled   to  vote  in   the   early  times. 

Farmhouses,  with  pointed  or  gambrel  roofs,  stood  facing  the  town,  with 
gables  towards  the  road,  and  a  long  lean-to  at  the  back,  towards  the 
north.    The  well-sweep  was  a  conspicuous  object  near  the  house.    In  the  door- 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  7 

yard,  paved  with  round  beach  stones,  stood  clumps  of  lilacs,  and  in  the  box 
border  under  the  southern  windows  grew  the  bright  old-fashioned  flowers. 
Bushes  and  underbrush  lined  both  sides  of  the  road;  here  and  there  a  pond  ran 
across  it,  through  which  the  horses  splashed  and  the  foot  passengers 
crossed  by  small  railed  bridges.  On  the  left,  after  passing  Linnaean 
street,  there  was  a  slight  rise  known  as  Jones  s  Hill,  on  which  stood  the 
ghastly  gallows. 

Over  the  bridge  and  causeway  and  up  this  turnpike  road  Lord  Percy 
marched,  with  the  reinforcements,  in  the  hot  mid-day  sunshine,  on  his  way  to 
Lexington.  Through  the  closed  blinds  of  the  farmhouse  windows  peeped  the 
women  and  children,  for  most  of  the  men,  roused  by  the  midnight  alarm, 
had  gone  to  meet  the  British.  Now  and  again,  the  soldiers  broke  ranks 
to  drink  the  cool  well  water  and  the  girls  could  admire  the  gay  uniforms 
at  shorter  range.  Along  the  upper  part  of  this  road,  too,  north  of  Beech 
street,  the  main  body  of  the  British  troops  had  marched  between  mid- 
night and  early  morning,  for  history  says  they  landed  at  Lechmere  Point, 
crossed  the  marshes  to  Milk  road  (Somerville)  and  marched  through 
Beech  street  to  the  avenue,  and  so  to  Lexington,  and  along  the  turnpike 
road  many,  both  patriots  and  British,  laid  down  their  lives.  Thus  to  the 
turnpike    belongs    the    fame    of    April  19,  1775. 

Near  the  crossing  of  the  two  roads  in  Holmes  place  was  General  Ward's 
headquarters,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  and  both  ways  must  have 
been  alive  with  officers  and  messengers  then.  The  King's  Highway  was 
different  from  the  turnpike.  Before  the  Revolution,  save  where  it  crossed 
the  common,  it  was  bordered  by  fine  estates.  It  was  along  the  lower  part 
of  this  road  (now  Kirkland  street)  which  passed  through  the  Danforth-Foxcroft 
estate  that  General  Prescott  led  his  brave  soldiers  to  Bunker  Hill,  during 
the  night  of  June  16,  1775.  The  upper  part  of  the  highway  (now  Brattle 
street)  was  occupied  by  the  fine  houses  of  the  king's  sympathizers  and  was 
called  Tory  Row.  These  homes,  deserted  by  their  owners,  were  taken  by 
the  patriots  for  hospitals,  for  medical  headquarters  and  the  finest  of  them 
all  for  the  commander-in-chief's  quarters.  It  was  down  this  road  that  "Wash- 
ington and  his  officers  made  their  entry  into  Cambridge,  on  July  2,  1775,  and  it 
was  down  this  road  that  the  evidence  of  success  of  the  patriot  cause  cheered 
their  hearts  when  General  Knox  brought  into  town,  on  forty  ox-sleds,  the  arms 
and  ammunition  taken  at  Ticonderoga. 

It  was  along  this  road,  too,  that,  in  November,  1777,  the  prisoners  of  war 
of  Burgoyne's  army  straggled  into  town,  among  them  the  Hessian  general 
Riedesel  and  his  family.  For  a  year,  all  the  Cambridge  highways  were 
made  gay  by  these  red-coats,  who  made  the  best  they  could  of  their  imprison- 
ment and  even  the  turnpike  has  its  tradition  of  their  sports.  It  is  said 
that  Burgoyne's  officers  laid  out  a  mi'e    track    for    running    races,    starting 


8  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

from    the   burial    ground,    up   the   turnpike   to  Linnaean  street,   through   that 

and   down    Garden   street   to   the   starting  place. 

It  would  take  too  long  to  tell  of  all  the  noted  men  whose   feet   have   trod 

these  ways;  but  what  has  been  written  may  serve  to  give  a  character  to  each 

of  the  roads.    Both  led  to  Boston — the  turnpike    over    causeway    and    bridge 

through  Roxbury  over  the  Neck,  eight  miles  to  Boston  Common;  the  highway 

through    Somerville   and    Charlestown,  over  the  ferry  to  the  North  End — and 

both  have  their  share  of  historic  fame. 

M.  I.  J.  G. 

HARVARD   SQUARE. 

All  the  houses  that  were  facing  Harvard  square  during  the  Revolution  are 
gone  and  have  been  replaced  by  modern  buildings.  The  estates  which  in  the 
early  times,  faced  Harvard  square  (then  Braintree  street),  making  the  corners 
of  Eoylstou,  Dunster,  and  Holyoke  streets,  are  described  under  those  streets. 
Later,  these  estates  were  cut  up  into  small  lots,  and  shops  and  houses  built 
there.  The  store  of  John  Owen,  publisher,  the  University  Bookstore,  stood  on 
the  east  corner  of  the  square  and  Holyoke  street,  and  deserves  mention. 
In  1849,  it  became  the  property  of  John  Bartlett,  the  editor  of  "Familiar  Quo- 
tations" and  other  valuable  reference  books,  and  was  the  resort  of  the  profes- 
sors and  authors  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  west  side  of  the  square  was  part  of  Simon  Bradstreet's  grant,  and 
later  became  the  property  of  Herbert  Pelham.  It  was  bought  by  Caleb 
Prentice,  in  1747,  from  Pelham's  heirs,  and  extended  back  to  Brattle  square. 
A  large  part  of  it  was  purchased  by  Stephen  Palmer;  by  bequest  and  purchase 
it  ultimately  came  into  the  possession  of  the  college,  now  the  owners  of  the 
brick  block  standing  here,   called  College  House. 

At  the  Revolutionary  period,  a  large  handsome,  gambrel-roofed  house  stood 
next  to,  and  just  north  of,  the  court  house  (now  Lyceum  Building),  where 
Professor  Samuel  Webber  lived  before  he  became  president  of  the  college.  A 
drawing  of  the  house  made  in  1796,  is  in  the  college  library.  Further  north, 
stood  Old  College  House,  a  three-story  wooden  building  with  brick  ends,  occu- 
pied as  a  dormitory  by  the  students.    Burgoyne's  troops  were  quartered  in  it. 

Near  by  was  the  apothecary  shop  of  Osgood  and  Farrington,  which  is  men- 
tio-ned  in  a  recently  published  letter,  written  before  the  Revolution  by  Nathaniel 
Walker  Appleton,  the  son  of  the  minister,  as  being  very  "flash." 

Near  the  corner  of  Cliurch  street  were  three  old  houses.  One  was  the  house 
of  Deacon  Kidder;  the  last  to  go  was  a  little  old  black  house,  whose  front  was 
covered  with  white  roses,  described  in  Lowell's  "Cambridge  Thirty  Tears 
Ago,"  as  the  barber-shop  of  Marcus  Reemy,  that  strange  foreigner,  still  re- 
membered by  a  few  now  living  as  having  given  them  sticks  of  candy  when  as 
children  they  were  taken  there  by  their  parents  to  have  their  hair  cut.  Behind 
was  the  house  occupied  by  Miss  Dana,  who  taught  the  little  girls  to  sew. 

For  more   than  two   centuries.   Harvard   square   has   been   the   true   centre    of 


Q 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  9 

Cambridge.  Until  the  middle  of  the  uiueteeuth  century  it  was  commonly  called 
"The  Village."  From  it  still  diverge  the  roads  to  Boston,  Charlestown,  Brighton, 
Watertowu  and  Arlington,  with  Lexington  and  Concord  just  beyond.  Here  is 
the  college  yard,  and  here,  in  the  early  history  of  the  town,  were  found  the 
town  house,  as  the  court  house  "was  called,  the  meeting  house  and  the  burying 
ground.  Here,  too,  were  placed  the  town  pump  and  scales,  and  in  the  centre 
of  the  square  was  built,  early,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  market  house,  the 
lower  part  of  which  was  occupied  by  the  twin-brothers,  Snow,  as  a  fish  market, 
also  delightfully  described  by  James  Russell  Lowell  in  "Cambridge  Thirty  Years 
Ago."  Great  elm  trees  lined  either  side  of  the  road  until  the  rush  of  travel 
necessitated  their  removal. 

In  1830  the  market  house  was  removed  as  an  encroachment  on  public  lands, 
and  it  was  soon  followed  by  the  disappearance  of  the  meeting  house,  the  town 
house,  the  old  houses  in  the  college  yard,  the  trees,  the  pump  and  the  standard 
scales.  The  county-seat  has  been  transferred  to  East  Cambridge,  the  city  hav- 
ing always  been  the  shire  town  of  Middlesex  county,  and  the  municipal  head- 
quarters. The  largest  stores  and  the  chief  manufacturing  plants  are  now  located 
between  Dana  Hill  and  the  Boston  line. 

Thus  the  old  "village"  has  become  the  modern  Harvard  square,  lined  on  one 
side  by  the  college  yard,  and  on  the  other  by  stores  and  dormitories,  and  filled 
day  and  night  with  busy  electric  cars,  pouring  a  great  stream  of  visitors  into 
the  city. 

When  Cambridge  was  first  settled,  in  1630,  it  was  called  Newtowne,  and  its 
location  was  determined  by  Deputy-Governor  Dudley,  as  he  thought  it  would  be 
an  admirable  place  for  the  seat  of  government,  being  safe  from  attack  by  sea, 
and  easily  defensible.  The  original  plan  of  making  this  the  seat  of  government 
was  not  carried  out,  however,  only  two  of  the  ten  who  had  agreed  to  build 
here,  Deputy-Governor  Dudley  and  his  son-in-law,  Simon  Bradstreet,  fulfilling 
their  promise. 

In  spite  of  this  handicap  in  its  very  founding,  the  town  thrived  from  the  first, 
and  today  we  find  it  not  only  the  leading  centre  of  learning  in  the  land,  the 
home  of  Harvard  and  Radcliffe  colleges,  and  numerous  public  and  private  pre- 
paratory schools,  but  also  a  manufacturing  city  of  no  mean  proportions.  Some 
of  the  largest  printing  houses  in  the  country  are  here,  and  here,  also,  are  made 
nearly  every  article,  large  and  small,  necessary  to  the  comfort  of  its  citizens, 
from  automobiles  and  pianos  to  egg-beaters. 

With  so  many  varied  business  and  intellectual  attractions,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  charm  of  the  residential  part  of  the  city,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  little 
handful  of  villagers  of  1630  has  grown  to  the  Cambridge  of  today,  with  its 
nearly  one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  The  true  Cantabrigian  may  well  be 
loyal  to  his  birthplace  and  proud  of  her  record.  May  the  history  the  city  is  now 
making  be  as  creditable  as  that  of  the  past. 


10  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

THE  MEETING-HOUSES. 

It  was  in  Cambridge,  England,  possibly  within  the  walls  of  the  university 
there,  that  the  agreement  was  made  to  embark  for  "the  Plantation  now  in 
hand  for  New  England."  Winthrop  and  Dudley  were  of  the  twelve  signers 
of  that  compact,  whose  consequence  weis,  as  it  was  written,  "God's  glory  and 
the   Church's  good." 

In  1630,  ten  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  at  Plymouth,  "John 
Winthrop  and  his  fleet  of  emigrants"  landed  in  Boston.  About  three  months 
after  this  settlement.  Governor  Winthrop  and  Deputy  Governor  Thomas 
Dudley,  with  the  advice  of  a  board  of  assistants,  thought  it  advisable  "to  es- 
tablish, in  the  vicinity  of  the  adjacent  settlement,  a  fortified  place."  December 
28,  1630,  they  selected,  for  this  purpose,  the  land  in  the  vicinity  of  what  is 
now  Harvard  Square,  Cambridge.  Houses  were  erected  here  in  1631  by  Dep- 
uty Governor  Thomas  Dudley  and  a  few  others.  At  this  date,  the  settle- 
ment numbered  about  forty  or  fifty  houses  and  a  few  hundred  souls.  Like 
the  Pilgrims,  hardly  had  they  provided  a  shelter  for  their  families  before  they 
began  to  build  a  meeting-house,   which  was  finished  in  1632. 

FIRST  MEETING  HOUSE,  1632-1651  (A4). 

We  know  little  of  this  building.  It  was  probably  built  of  logs,  hand  hewn, 
from  trees  cut  on  or  near  the  land  on  which  it  stood.  The  first  meeting- 
house, located  in  the  midst  of  the  settlement,  was  on  the  westerly  side  of 
Dunster  Street,  a  little  north  of  a  point  midway  between  Mount  Auburn  and 
Winthrop  Streets.  In  1880,  by  order  of  the  city  of  Cambridge,  the  following 
inscription  was  cut  in  the  foundation  wall  of  the  bakery  at  the  corner  of 
Mount  Auburn  and  Dunster  Streets: 

"SITE  OF  THE 
FIRST    MEETING-HOUSE   IN   CAMBRIDGE, 
A.  D.  1632." 

It  was  then  called  the  "First  Church  of  Christ,"  and  was  the  eighth  in 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony.  The  first  church  organization,  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Colony,  was  effected  at  Salem    in  1629. 

This  first  meeting-house  was  a  plain  and  simple  structure.  "There  was  no 
altar,  no  choir,  nothing  even  that  in  older  countries  would  be  called  a  pulpit; 
only  a  desk,  with  seats  before  it  for  deacons  and  elders  and  rows  of  benches 
beyond  for  men  on  the  one  side  and  for  women  on  the  other."  *  *  *  "It 
may  have  been  bare,  not  because  its  builders  loved  to  have  it  so,  but  because 
they  had  not  the  wealth  or  the  skill  to  give  it  beauty." 

At  first,  the  congregation  was  called  together  by  the  beating  of  a  drum; 
later,  the  little  edifice  had  a  b:-!!,  for  in  the  early  church  account  books  are' 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  11 

two   entries:    one   in   1640,    "for   a   tacklin   for   the   bell   rope   14d.;"    again,   in 
1643,   "payd  brother  Manning  for  a  bell  rope  ISs." 

"This  parish  was  organized  when  John  Milton  was  a  young 
man  and  when  the  memory  of  the  great  days  of  Elizabeth 
was  still  fresh.  The  men  of  the  parish  were  Englishmen,  full  of  the 
ardor  of  Puritanism.  Their  religious  beliefs  had  all  the  definiteness  of  outline 
which  belonged  to  the  thought  of  that  day.  The  meeting-house  was  not  a 
temple  set  apart  from  ordinary  use  for  worship  alone.  It  was  the  town 
house.  Here  the  townsmen  met  to  transact  public  business.  If  need  be,  it 
■would  be  a  place  of  refuge.  In  some  communities,  it  served  as  a  fort.  To 
those  who  worshipped  in  it  on  Sunday,  there  was  nothing  incongruous  in  its 
other  uses.  Men  belonged  to  the  Parish  because  they  lived  here.  The  bare 
New  England  mieeting-house  takes  a  dignity  of  its  own,  when  it  symbolizes  a 
union  of  civic  virtues  and  religious  earnestness." 

"August  14,  1632,"  says  the  record,  "the  Braintree  company  (which  had  be- 
gun to  sit  down  at  Mount  Wollaston)  was  removed  to  Newtown."  Rev. 
Thomas  Hooker,  who  in  England  had  been  the  minister  of  some  of  the 
earliest  settlers,  came  over  here  at  their  earnest  desire.  "He  arrived  in  Bos- 
ton, September  4,  1633,  and  proceeded  to  Newtown,  where  he  was  received 
with  open  arms  by  an  affectionate  and  pious  people."  On  October  11,  1633, 
he    was   ordained,    with   Mr.    Samuel    Stone,    teacher. 

As  early  as  May,  1634,  the  spirit  of  dissatisfaction  became  so  general  among 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Newtown  that  they  proposed  to  abandon  their  com- 
paratively pleasant  homes  and  to  commence  anew,  in  the  wilderness.  The 
ostensible  reason  for  removal  was  lack  of  sufHcient  land.  In  the  same  year, 
1634,  the  General  Court  granted  permission  "to  tliose  who  find  the  town  too 
narrow,  to  remove  elsewhere,"  and  Reverend  Thomas  Hooker  and  his  com- 
pany migrated  to  Hartford,  Connecticut.  "His  wife  was  carried  in  a  horse 
litter  and  they  drove  160  cattle  and  fed  of  their  milk  by  the  way."  Several 
people  from  the  neighboring  towns  removed  with  them;  more  than  fifty 
families  went  to  Hartford  and  others  elsewhere.  Of  the  families  residing 
here  in  1635,  not  more  than  eleven  are  known  to  have  remained.  Rev. 
Thomas  Shepard,  with  another  company,  arrived  from  England,  purchased 
the  houses  and  lands  of  their  predecessors  and  organized  a  new  church, 
even  before  the  actual  removal  of  the  former  one,  embracing  the  few  of  its 
members  who  remained  here.  In  this  little  edifice,  in  1637,  met  the  first 
synod  of  the  churches  of  the  colony,  whei-e  were  gathered  probably  the  whole 
body  of  the  teaching  elders  and  learned  divines  of  New  England.  Here  Anne 
Hutchinson  was  tried,  and  here,  in  1642,  were  held  the  exercises  of  the  first 
Harvard   College  Commencement. 

In  1646,  a  second  general  synod  assembled  here,  and,  after  sundry  adjourn- 
ments, was  dissolved  in  1648,  having  adopted    a    system    of   church    discipline 


12  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

called  the  "Cambridg-e  Platform,"  viz.,  "a  system  of  church  government 
drawn  up  by  a  synod  at  Cambridge  In  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  in  1648." 
"The  Congregational  churches  differed  somewhat  at  that  time,  some  inclining 
to  Presbyterianism,  some  to  Independency."  "The  synod  reafRrmied  the 
Westminster  Confession,  but  recommended  a  form  of  church  discipline  Avhich 
prevails  now  in  the  Congregational  churches."  This  meeting-house,  although 
it  had  stood  for  less  than  twenty  years,  had  fallen  into  decay,  neither  was 
it  sufficiently  large.  At  first,  it  was  proposed  to  repair  the  house,  "with  a 
four-square  roof  and  covered  with  shingles,"  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  superintend  the  same. 

SECOND  MEETING  HOUSE,  1652-1706  (A36). 

But  shortly  afterwards,  March  11,  1649-50,  at  a  general  meet- 
ing of  the  whole  town,  it  was  "voted  and  agreed  that  the  five 
men  chosen  by  the  town  to  repair  the  meeting-house  shall  desist  from  the 
same  and  agree  with  the  workmen  to  build  a  new  house,  about  forty  feet 
square  and  covered  as  was  formerly  agreed  for  the  other,  and  levy  a  charge 
of  their  engagements  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  town."  It  w^as  also  voted, 
and  generally  agreed,  that  the  new  meeting-house  shall  stand  on  the  watch- 
house  hill  (in  the  present  college  yard  near  Dane  Hall).  The  new  house  was 
erected  immediately— according  to  extracts  from  the  town  records — January 
13,  1650-51.  "February  26,  1651-52,  Ordered:  That  the  Townsmen  shall  make 
sale  of  the  land  whereon  the  old  meeting-house   stood." 

Rev.  Thomas  Shepard  died  August  25,  1649;  therefore  all  of  his  connections 
must  have  been  with  this  first  meeting-house.  Almost  a  year  elapsed  be- 
tween his  death  and  the  ordination  of  his  successor,  during  which  time  the 
new  (or  second)  meeting-house  was  built.  Mr.  Jonathan  Mitchell  was  in- 
vited to  become  the  pastor,  the  successor  of  Rev.  Mr.  Shepard,  and  was  or- 
dained August  21,  1650.  During  Mr.  Mitchell's  ministry,  he  encountered  two 
special  trials,  the  division  of  the  church  and  the  open  opposition  of  Pres- 
ident Dunster. 

When  the  first  meeting-house  was  erected,  it  was  the  only  one  in  Newtown 
which  then  embraced  the  territory  between  the  Charles  and  the  Merrimac 
rivers,  and  south  of  the  Charles,  including  what  is  now  Brighton,  Brookline 
and  Newton.  All  persons  were  expected  to  attend  regularly  the  town  meet- 
ing-house. They  either  walked  or  rode  on  horse  back,  or  came  by  boats.  Nat- 
urally, as  time  went  on,  the  villagers  desired  meeting-houses  of  their  own. 
First,  the  most  distant  community,  now  Billerica,  applied  to  be  set  off  from  the 
mother  church.  Next,  in  1654,  what  is  now  Newton,  petitioned  for  separation. 
They  were  partially  released,  January,  1659-60,  and  in  January,  1661-62,  they  re- 
ceived permission  to  establish  a  church  of  their  own  where  Rev.  John  Eliot,  Jr., 
was   ordained   their   first   minister,   July    20,    1664.        The    experience    of    this 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAINIBRIDGE  13 

church  was  repeated  by  the  other  churches  in  the  neighboring  towns,  and 
not  until  many  petitions  had  been  presented  in  each  case  did  the  General 
Court  grant  them.  There  is  no  way  of  telling  the  amount  of  work  toward 
this  end  that  was  done  in  the  years  that  elapsed  from  the  presentation  of 
the   first   petition   to   the   granting  of  the    request    to    form    a    church. 

Lexington  flrst  applied  for  a  separate  church  in  1682,  and  its  first  minister 
was  ordained  in  1696.  Brighton  was  from  1747  to  1779  in  separating  from  the 
first  church,  when  the  inhabitants  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  were  in- 
corporated by  the  General  Court  in  1779,  as  a  separate  precinct,  with  au- 
thority to  settle  a  minister  and  to  provide  for  his  support  by  a  parish  tax— 
this,  nearly  half  a  century  after  the  commencement  of  regular  religious 
services  and  about  thirty-five  years  after  the  erection  of  a  meeting-house  in 
which  public  worship  was  offered  throughout  the  year. 

In  1663,  this  second  meeting-house  in  Cambridge  saw  the  persecution  of  the 
Quakers.    It  would   seem   that  very  few  pews  had  been   constructed   in   this 
building,  instead  of  which  there  were  long  seats  appropriated  to  individuals,  by 
the  "seaters  of  the  meeting-house."  But  early  in  Mr.  Brattle's  ministry,  March 
14,  1697-9S,  the  town  "voted  that  there  should  be  a  pew  made  and  set  up  between 
Mr,  Samuel  Gookin's  pew  and  the  stairs,  on  the  south-east  corner  of  the  meet- 
ing-house,   for    the    family    of    the    ministry."      Soon    afterwards,    pews    were 
made   and   assigned    to   others. 

This,  the  second  meeting-house,  having  stood  somewhat  more  than  fifty 
years,  had  become  dilapidated  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  voted,  July 
12,  1703,  to  build  a  new  one,  and  a  committee  to  have  charge  of  the  same  was 
chosen.  Final  action  was  delayed  until  December  6,  1705,  when  it  was  "voted 
that  the  sum  of  £280  be  levied  on  said  inhabitants  toward  the  building  of 
a  new  meeting-house  amongst  them."  The  ministers  who  were  associated 
with  the  second  meeting-house  were  the  Revs.  Jonathan  Mitchell,  Urian 
Oakes,   Nathaniel   Gookin  and   William  Brattle. 

THIRD  MEETING  HOUSE,   1706-1756. 

In  the  erection  of  the  third  meeting-house,  mention  is  made  of  the  building 
of  a  pew  for  the  president's  family,  and  also  of  financial  assistance  given  by 
the  college,  in  return  for  which  the  privileges  to  be  received  by  it  are  given, 
and  mention  made  of  the  scholars'  seats.  This  third  house  stood  on  or  near 
the  spot  occupied  by  its  predecessor  and  seems  to  have  been  opened  for 
public  worship  October  13,  1706,  "as  Mr.  Brattle's  records  of  Baptisms  show 
that  on  that  day  he  first  baptized  a  child  in  that  house,  having  performed 
a  similar  service  in  the  College  Hall  on  the  previous  Sabbath."  Rev.  Mr. 
Brattle  died  February  15,  1716-17;  his  successor,  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Appleton, 
was  ordained  October  9,  1717.  "Voted,  August  1,  1718,  that  a  new  upper 
gallery  be  erected." 


14  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

The  General  Court  met  in  Cambridge  in  1721-22,  on  account  of  the  small- 
pox epidemic  at  Boston,  the  sessions  being  held  in  the  meeting-house  front- 
ing on  Harvard  street  (now  Massachusetts  avenue),  when,  after  a  time,  it 
(the  Court)  had  to  be  again  removed  by  reason  of  the  pestilence  which  raged 
so  fiercely  that  the  college  exercises  were  broken  up  and  the  students  scat- 
tered. 

In  this  same  year,  Judah  Monis,  who  became  Hebrew  professor  at  Har- 
vard, publicly  renounced  Judaism  and  was  baptized  in  this  meeting-house. 
May  25,  1725,  the  people  on  the  westerly  side  of  Menotomy  River,  in  what 
is  now  Arlington,  petitioned  the  town  to  consent  that  they  might  become 
a  separate  precinct.  The  request  was  renewed  in  1728,  but  was  not  successful 
until  four  years  later.  It  was  granted  December  27,  1732,  after  several  un- 
successful attempts,  and  Menotomy  became  a  precinct,  with  practically  the 
same  bounds  which  were  assigned  to  it  when  it  was  incorporated  a  town 
in  1807.  Rev.  Samuel  Cooke  was  ordained  its  pastor  September  12,  1739.  On 
this  occasion,  the  First  Church  in  Cambridge  "voted  that  £25  be  given  out 
of  the  church's  stock,  to  the  Second  Church  in  Cambridge,  to  furnish  the 
communion  table  in  a  decent  manner."  This  pewter  service,  when  no  longer 
needed,  was  placed  in  the  care  of  Deacon  Henry  Whittemore,  and  is 
now  (1906)  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Almira  T.  Whittemore,  of  Arlington— a 
part  of  it  being  now  on  exhibition  at  the  Robbins  Public  Library. 

In    1740,    Rev.    George   Whitefield,    the  celebrated  Wesleyan   evangelist,   vis- 
ited   Cambridge.     He   severely   criticised   the   college   and   New   England   clergy, 
thus   receiving  their   ill   will.     He   was   not   allowed   to   preach   in   the   meeting- 
house, either  then  or  when  he  again  visited  the  town  in  1744-45. 

FOURTH    MEETING  HOUSE,   1756-1833. 

In  1753,  the  First  Parish  resolved  to  erect  a  new,  or  fourth,   meeting-house 
and  desired  the  college  to  defray  part  of  the  expenses,  in  consideration  of  which 
they  were  to  be  granted   certain  privileges.   The  erection  of  the  house   was 
delayed  about  three  years.  "It  was  raised  November  17,  1756,  and  divine  service 
was  first  performed  in  it,  Jnly  24,  1757."    "Meantime,  further  negotiation  was  had 
with  the  college  and  a  proposition  was  made  to  place  the  new  house  farther 
up  the   street,   which   would   very  much  secure  it  from  fire,  as  well  as  render 
the  appearance  of  it  much  more  beautiful,  and  also  would  render  it  absolutely 
necessary,  in  order  to  a  suitable  accommodation     of     the     parish,     that     they 
should  be  allowed  the  use  of  a  part  of  the    president's    orchard,    behind    their  * 
said  new  meeting-house,  where,  when  they  came  to  attend  on  divine  worship, 
they  might  place   their  horses,   chairs,  chaises,  etc." 

Desiring  "to  make  the  said  situation  of  the  new  meeting-house  as  con- 
venient as  may  be,"  the  corporation  of  Harvard  College  voted,  September  6, 
1756,  to  grant  to  the  parish  the  use  of  a  strip  of  land  one  hundred  and  six- 


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HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  15 

teen  feet  and  four  inches  In  length  by  thirty  two  feet  and  ten  inches  in 
widtli,  on  certain  conditions,  viz.,  "(1)  tliat  the  scholars'  gallery  shall  be  in 
the  front  of  the  said  meeting-house,  etc.;  (2)  that  the  said  new  meeting-house 
shall  front  southerly  down  the  street,  in  the  manner  the  old  one  now  doth; 
(3)  that  the  front  of  the  said  new  meeting-house  to  be  two  and  an  half  or  three 
feet  behind  the  badcside  of  the  old  meeting-house;  (4)  that  there  be  a  liberty 
for  the  president  of  the  college  to  cart  into  his  back  yard,  viz.,  at  the  back- 
side of  the  said  new  meeting-house,  wood,  hay,  boards,  etc.,  for  his  own  or 
the  college  use,  as  there  shall  be  occasion  for  it."  The  conditions  were  ac- 
cepted by  a  committee  of  the  parish.  "The  south  foundation  wall  of  Dane 
Hall  is  the  same  as  the  north  wall  of  the  old  meeting-house,  so  Law  and  Di- 
vinity rest   here   on   the   same   base." 

The  principal  entrance  was  on  the  south,  facing  the  pulpit.  The  auditorium 
was  nearly  square.  It  had  three  galleries.  The  eastern,  before  the  erection 
of  University  Hall,  with  its  chapel,  was  allotted  to  the  students  and  teachers 
of  the  college;  the  western  gallery  was  free;  that  on  the  south  was  occupied 
by  the  choir.  The  ground  floor  was  divided  into  square  pews,  having  saats 
which  could  be  raised  on  hinges  to  afford  standing  room  during  prayer.  When 
the  prayers  were  ended,  they  were  let  down  with  a  slam.  "Organ  there  was 
none.  The  music  was  supplied  by  a  bass  viol,  supplemented  by  some  wind 
instruments  and  a  volunteer  choir.  The  hymn-book  used  was  Tate  and 
Brady's."  The  amount  paid  by  the  college  for  this  building  is  stated  at  £213, 
6s.  8d.  If  this  was  exactly  one-seventh  of  the  charge  (the  amount  at  one 
time  agreed  to),  the  whole  cost  of  the  new  house  was  £1,493,  6s.  8d.;  the 
sum  payable  by  the  parish,  £1,280,  was  largely  subscribed  by  individuals,  as 
appears    by    manuscript    in    the    library  of  Harvard  College. 

In  Harvard  Square  stood  the  court-house,  and  the  meeting-house. 
When  General  Gage  was  in  possession  of  Boston,  a  Provincial  Congress,  with 
John  Hancock  as  president,  met  in  1774  at  Cambridge,  first  in  the  court- 
house, then  in  the  meeting-house,  the  first  business  being  to  elect  a  committee 
of  safety  and  a  committee  of  supplies.  In  February,  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress again  met  in  the  meeting-house  and  a  committee  of  five  was  ap- 
pointed to  watch  the  movements  of  the  British  troops.  The  delegates  from 
the  towns  of  Massachusetts  met  here  in  1779  and  framed  the  constitution  of  the 
commonwealth,  which  the  people  ratified  in  1780.  All  the  public  commence- 
ments and  solemn  inaugurations  during  more  than  seventy  years  were  cele- 
brated in  this  edifice,  and  no  building  can  compare  with  it,  in  the  number  of 
distinguished  men  who,  at  different  times,  have  been  assembled  within  its 
walls.  Washington  and  his  brother  patriots  in  arms  worshipped  here  during 
the  investment  of  Boston  by  the  provincial  army,  in  1775. 

"During  the  War  of  1812,  a  military  company,  drafted  from  Cambridge,  their 
term  of  service  having  expired,  marched   into   town   on   a   Sunday   afternoon. 


16  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

during:  divine  service,  with  drum  and  fife  afEronting  the  sacred  traditions  of 
the  Puritan  Sabbath.  Tliey  halted  in  front  of  the  meeting-house,  filed  into 
the  western  entrance,  ascended  the  stairs  with  measured  tramp,  the  music  not 
ceasing  till  they  had  taken  their  places  in  the  free  g'allery."  It  was  in  the 
midst  of  the  long  prayer,  which  was  not  interrupted.  In  1824,  Lafayette  was 
welcomed  in  this  building  on  his  return  to  America.  During  Commencement 
week,  the  college  always  took  possession  of  the  meeting-house  for  the  cus- 
tomary exercises,  notice  being  given  to  pew  holders  to  remove  their  hymn- 
books  and  cushions,  to  protect  them  from  academic  abuse.  Lafayette  occu- 
pied a   conspicuous  seat  on   the   platform  on  Commencement  Day,  1S24. 

Two  other  churches  branched  out  from  this  one.  In  1759,  a  subscription 
was  opened  for  the  erection  of  another  edifice  in  the  town.  As  the  result,  on 
October  15,  1761,  Christ  (Episcopal)  Church  was  opened.  A  new  church  was 
organized  November  6,  1814,  under  the  auspices  of  Harvard  College,  which 
withdrew  many  of  the  officers  and  students  from  the  congregation.  The 
original  church  was  much  enlarged  by  the  establishment  and  growth  of 
villages  at  Cambridgeport  and  East  Cambridge,  and  it  was  subsequently  di- 
minished by  their  incorporation  as  a  separate  parish  with  the  organization 
of  churches  in  both  villages.  About  the  year  1815,  a  difference  of  opinion, 
which  for  several  years  had  existed  between  the  Trinitarian  and  Unitarian 
Congregationalists,  attained  such  prominence  as  to  disturb  the  relations  be- 
tween pastors  of  churches  and  to  rend  the  churches  themselves.  In  1829, 
the  church  in  Cambridge  divided  for  this  reason  and  formed  two  churches, 
which  still  exist  today,  and  both  societies  are  strong  and  active  in  this  city, 
as  well  as  in  the  denomination  to  which  each  belongs.  One  church  is  the 
First  Church,  Unitarian,  usually  spoken  of  as  the  "First  Parish;"  the  other, 
the  First  Church,  Congregational,  usually  spoken  of  as  the  "Shepard  Memo- 
rial." 

With  the  division  of  the  church,  the  two  societies  built  meeting-houses  of 
their  own  and,  in  1833,  two  hundred  and  one  years  after  the  founding  of  the 
first  meeting-house  in  the  town,  this  edifice,  built  in  1756,  the  last  town  meet- 
ing-house, and  home  of  the  original  church  organization,  was  removed,  and 
the  land  on  which  it  stood  was  sold  to  Harvard  College.  The  Revs.  Nathaniel 
Appleton,  Timothy  Hilliard,  and  Abiel  Holmes  (father  of  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes)  were  the  pastors  settled  over  this,  the  fourth  meeting-house. 

On  February  12,  1886,  the  two  societies  united  in  observing  "the  two  hun- 
dred and  fiftieth  (250th)  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  their  common  an- 
cestor, Thomas  Shepard."  Exercises  in  the  afternoon  were  held  in  the  Uni- 
tarian church  and  evening  exercises  in  the  Congregational  church,  pastors 
and  representatives  from   both  societies  taking  part. 

In   1904,    there   were   forty-four  churches  in   the  city  of  Cambridge,   divided 

between    fourteen    different    denominations. 

M.  B.  F. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  17 

HOOKER-SHEPARD-WIGGLESWORTH  HOUSE,  1633-1843   (A34). 

The  old  parsonage,  the  home  of  the  ministers  of  the  First  Churcli  in  Cam- 
bridge, for  many  years,  stood  upon  land  now  within  the  precincts  of  the 
college  yard,  east  of  Boylston  Hall,  facing  what  was  then  called  Braintrea 
street,  now  Massachusetts  avenue. 

For  thirty-seven  years,  the  parsons  had  owned  and  occupied  a  house  built 
by  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  the  first  minister  of  Cambridge,  then  called  New- 
town. He  had  organized  a  church  of  about  one  hundred  members  in  1633, 
but  in  1636  had  removed  to  Connecticut  with  practically  the  whole  of  his  fol- 
lowers, leaving  the  little  town  bereft  of  church  and  pastor.  Immediately  they 
took  steps  to  supply  the  want,  and  on  February  1,  1636,  organized  the  "First 
Churcli  in  Cambridge,"  and  installed,  as  pastor,  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  who 
but  recently  had  arrived  in  Boston  with  a  company  of  about  sixty  persons. 
They  had  fled  from  the  mother  country  to  escape  religious  pereecution,  Mr. 
Shepard  being  disguised  as  a  servant  to  avoid  recognition. 

This  company  bought  the  houses  vacated  by  those  who  had  gone  to  Con- 
necticut, Mr.  Shepard  taking  the  parsonage  which  stood  about  opposite 
Holyoke  street,  tlien  called  Crooked  street,  near  the  western  end  of  Boyl- 
ston hall.  Here  he  made  his  home,  and  the  next  year  married  Joanna,  the 
daughter  of  Rev.  Mr.  Hooker,  his  first  wife,  Margaret,  having  died  only  two 
weeks  after  his  arrival  in  this  country. 

]Mr.  Shepard's  ministry  lasted  thirteen  years,  and  was  one  of  great  power 
and  usefulness.  His  sudden  death,  in  1649,  caused  general  regret  all  over 
New  England. 

His  successor  was  Rev.  Jonathan  Mitchell;  the  "Matchless  Mitchell,"  as  he 
was  termed,  on  account  of  his  extraordinary  mental  gifts.  He  had  been  or- 
dained but  a  few  mouths  before  Mr.  Shepard's  death,  and  the  bereaved  people 
applied  to  him  to  fill  the  vacancy.  He  stepped  into  the  gap,  not  only  in  the 
church,  where  he  was  Installed,  August  21,  1650,  but  three  months  later  mar- 
ried the  widow  of  his  predecessor,  and  October  9,  1651,  purchased  the  home- 
stead where  he  resided  during  the  whole  period  of  his  ministry,  eighteen 
years.  It  is  said  of  him:  "He  was  a  person  that  held  very  near  communioa 
with  God,  eminent  in  wisdom,  piety,  humility,  love,  self-denial,  and  of  a  com- 
passionate and  tender  heart,  surpassing  in  public  spiritedness,  a  mighty  man 
in  prayer  and  eminent  at  standing  in  the  gap.  In  a  word,  he  was  a  man  rich- 
ly furnished  and  eminently  fitted  for  his  work." 

After  his  death,  July  9,  1668,  the  church  was  without  a  settled  pastor  for 
three  years,  during  which  time  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  President  Chaun- 
cy  and  others. 

2 


18  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

PARSONAGE,  1670-1843   (A32). 

Meantime,  the  church  came  to  the  decision  that  it  would  be  an  advantage 
to  erect  a  parsonage  of  its  own,  and  a  public  meeting  was  held  in  1669  to  con- 
sider the  matter.  According  to  the  records,  it  was  agreed  upon  at  that  meet- 
ing that  "there  should  be  a  house  either  bought  or  built  for  that  end  to 
entertain  a  minister,  and  a  committee  was  chosen  for  that  purpose  which 
took  care  for  the  same,  and  to  that  end  bought  four  acres  of  land  of  Widow 
Beale  to  set  the  house  upon,  and,  in  the  year  1670,  there  was  a  house  erected 
upon  the  said  land  of  36  feet  long  and  30  feet  broad,  this  house*  to  remain 
the  church's,  and  to  be  the  dwelling  place  of  such  a  minister  and  ofBcer  as 
the  Lord  shall  be  pleased  to  supply  us  withal,  duriug  the  time  he  shall  sup- 
ply that  place  amongst  us." 

This  glebe  of  four  acres  is  part  of  the  present  Harvard  College  grounds, 
except  the  southern  boundary,  which,  when  the  street  was  widened  some 
years  ago,  was  taken  into  Massachusetts  avenue. 

The  first  parson  to  occupy  the  newly  built  parsonage  was  Rev.  Urian 
Oakes,  who,  by  invitation  of  the  church,  came  over  from  England,  July,  1671, 
and  was  installed  on  November  8  of  the  same  year.  The  people  received  him 
with  great  joy,  and  the  church  and  town  united  in  keeping  a  day  of  thanks- 
giving that  the  place  of  Mr.  Mitchell  was  thus  satisfactorily  filled.  Mr.  Oakes 
remained  pastor  for  ten  years,  during  six  of  which  he  held  the  office  of 
president  of  Harvard  College. 

An  assistant  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  was  provided, him  in  the  person  of 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Gookin,  who  succeeded  to  the  pastoral  office  upon  the 
death  of  Mr.  Oakes,  July  25,  1681,  and  was  installed,  November  15,  1682. 

Mr.  Gookin  was  the  son  of  Major  General  Daniel  Gookin.  who  commanded 
the  military  forces  of  the  colony,  and  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  men 
of  his  time.  He  befriended  and  aided  the  apostle  Eliot  in  his  labors  among 
the  Indians,  and  his  daughter  Elizabeth  married  John  Eliot,  Jr.,  the  oldest  son 
of  the  apostle.  Though  the  father  was  so  active  in  public  affairs,  the  son  de- 
voted himself  almost  exclusively  to  his  church  and  parish,  giving  his  best 
thought  and  strength  to  those  under  his  care.  He  died,  August  7,  1692,  at  the 
early  age  of  36,  after  a  ministry  of  ten  years,  leaving  a  widow,  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Habijah  Savage,  whose  mother  married  his  father. 

For  four  years  after  the  death  of  Mr.   Gookin,   the  church   pulpit  was  va- 


*September  9,  1669,  it  was  voted  that  the  church's  farm  at  Billerica  should  be 
sold  "and  improvement  made  of  it  for  the  building  of  a  house  for  the 
ministry."  This  farm  was  sold  Novembf^r  12  of  that  year  to  Richard  Daniels 
for  £220.  The  land  for  the  parsonage  cost  £40.  the  house  £263.  5s.  6d.,  and  the 
barn  £42.  The  old  schoolhouse  on  Holyoke  street  was  taken  down  this  year 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  stones  of  which  it  was  built  were  used  as  founda- 
tions for  the  new  parsonage. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  19 

cant,  being  supplied  by  as  many  as  thirty  different  preachers.  At  last  the 
Rev.  William  Brattle  was  called  to  be  pastor  and  was  installed,  November 
25,  1696.  His  pastorate  lasted  twenty  years.  The  "Boston  News  Letter"  of 
February  25,  1717,  speaking  of  his  death  which  occurred  ten  days  earlier, 
says  that  "his  good  name  while  he  lived  was  better  than  precious  ointment, 
and  his  memory,  now  being  that  of  the  just,  will  be  always  blessed.  He  was 
a  very  religious  good  man,  a  faithful  minister,  a  great  benefactor.  Like 
his  great  Lord  and  Master,  he  went  about  doing  good."  The  same  issue  of 
the  "News  Letter"  speaks  of  a  remarkably  heavy  snow  storm  which  occurred 
on  the  day  of  his  funeral,  blocking  travel  between  Cambridge  and  Boston 
and  "lying  in  some  parts  of  the  streets  about  six  foot  high."  Rev.  John  Cot- 
ton, of  Newton,  who  was  present  at  the  funeral,  writes  to  his  father  that  he 
was  detained  several  days  "by  reason  of  the  great  and  very  deep  snow." 

Mr.  Brattle  belonged  to  the  family  whose  name  has  so  long  been  asso- 
ciated with  Cambridge.  Though  he  resided  in  the  parsonage,  he  bought  the 
land  upon  which  stands  the  historic  Brattle  House,  where  his  son  and  grand- 
son, prominent  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolution,  resided.  He  was  one  of 
the  first  two  to  receive  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Divinity  from  Harvard 
College. 

After  his  death,  the  church  immediately  took  steps  to  secure  a  successor, 
and,  after  mature  deliberations,  church  and  town  concurring,  the  Rev.  Na- 
thaniel Appleton  was  invited  to  be  their  minister. 

He  accepted  the  call  and  was  installed  October  9,  1717.  Mr.  Appleton  be- 
longed to  a  distinguished  family.  His  mother  was  daughter  of  President 
John  Rogers,  who  served  the  college,  1682-84.  His  pastorate  was  the  longest 
the  church  has  ever  known,  extending  over  sixty-six  years.  It  covered  the 
eventful  period  of  the  Revolution — the  times  that  tried  men's  souls,  and 
awakened  every  spark  of  patriotism  in  the  American  people.  During  his  res- 
idence in  the  parsonage  a  sum.  of  money  was  appropriated  by  the  town  for  re- 
pairing the  ravages  of  fifty  years,  and  a  new  front  was  built  and  the  house 
otherwise  renovated  in  1720.  Harvard  College  conferred  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  upon  Mr.  Appleton  in  1771,  the  first  time  that  honor  was 
accorded  to  anyone  since  1692,  when  Rev.  Increase  Mather  was  elected  a 
D.   D. 

The  record  reads:  "The  Rev.  Mr.  Nathaniel  Appleton  having  been  long  an 
ornament  to  the  pastoral  character  and  eminently  distinguished  for  his 
knowledge,  wisdom  and  sanctity  of  manners  and  usefulness  to  the  churches, 
and  having  for  more  than  fifty  years  exerted  himself  in  promoting  the 
interests  of  piety  and  learning  in  this  society,  both  as  a  minister  and  a  fel- 
low of  the  corporation,  therefore  voted  that  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity 
be  conferred  on  the  said  Rev.  'Mv.  Nathaniel  Appleton,  and  that  a  diploma 
for  that  purpose  be  presented  to  him." 


20  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

A  colleague,  in  the  person  of  Rev.  Timothy  Hilliard,  was  provided  Rev.  Dr. 
Appleton,  at  his  own  request,  after  he  entered  his  ninety-first  year,  and  he 
was  installed,  October  27,  1783.  Dr.  Appleton  lived  less  than  four  months  af- 
ter this  event,  and  departed  this  life  old  and  full  of  days,  February  9,  1784. 

The  longest  pastorate  was  followed  by  the  shortest,  that  of  Mr.  Hilliard, 
which  was  of  only  seven  years  duration.  Though  short,  it  was  one  of  pe- 
culiar fruitfulness,  his  talents  being  such  as  to  fit  him  most  happily  for 
the  high  position  he  was  called  to  fill.     He  died  May  9,  1790. 

The  last  parson  to  make  his  home  in  the  old  parsonage  was  Rer.  Abiel 
Holmes.  He  was  born  in  1763,  at  Woodstock,  now  Connecticut,  but  at  that 
time  within  the  limits  of  Massachusetts,  graduated  at  Tale  College  in  17S3, 
was  ordained  pastor  of  a  church  at  Midway,  Georgia,  in  1785,  but  returned 
in  a  few  years  to  the  North,  finding  the  Southern  climate  unfavorable  to  his 
health.  The  Cambridge  church,  not  having  filled  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  Mr.  Hilliard,  extended  to  him  a  call,  which  he  accepted,  and  was 
ordained,  January  25,  1792. 

His  term  of  service  was  a  long  and  eventful  one,  but  it  is  only  with  the  first 
fifteen  years  that  the  old  parsonage  has  to  do.  Mr.  Holmes  married,  for  his 
second  wife,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Oliver  Wendell,  who  presented  to  her  as  a 
wedding  gift  the  historic  mansion,  owned  and  occupied  by  Jonathan  Hast- 
ings, steward  of  Harvard  CoUege,  1742-1783,  and  which  served  as  headquar- 
ters for  General  Ward  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolution.  Into  this  house  he 
removed  with  his  family  in  1807,  and  here  his  distinguished  son  was  born  in 
1809. 

Thus  the  record  of  the  old  parsonage  closes.  Having  nobly  served  its  pur- 
pose as  a  dwelling  place  for  the  ministers  of  Cambridge  for  one  hundred  and  thir- 
ty-seven years,  it  passed  from  the  ownership   of   the   church   to   that   of  the 

corporation  of  Harvard  College,  and  was  taken  down  in  1843. 

M.  W.  G. 


€)■■ 


HARVARD  COLLEGE  YARD. 


After  God  had  carried  us  safe  to  New  England,  and  wee  had  builded  our 
houses,  provided  necessaries  for  our  livelihood,  rear'd  convenient  places  for 
Gods  worship,  and  settled  the  Civile  Government:  One  of  the  next  things  we 
longed  for,  and  looked  after  was  to  advance  Learning  and  perpetuate  it  to 
posterity;  dreading  to  leave  an  illiterate  Ministery  to  the  churches,  when  our 
present  Ministers  shall  lie  in  the  dust."— From  "New  England's  First  Fruits." 

1636— When  Sir  Harry  Vane  was  governor  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  the  Great  and  General  Court  in  October  of  this  year  "agreed  to  give  £400 
towards  a  schoale  or  colledge,  whereof  £200  to  bee  paid  the  next  yeare,  and  £200 
when  the  worke  is  finished,  &  the  next  Court  to  appoint  wheare  &  wt  building." 

1637— On    October    15.    1637,    the    Great      and      General      Court      passed      a 


,',l'VI    .IJ'lh    ''II   |l    -MiIVi-i'M   : 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  21 

vote  that:  "The  college  is  ordered  to  bee  at  Newetowne."  In  this 
same  year  the  name  of  Newetowne  was  changed  to  Cambridg-e,  ("It  is  or- 
dered that  Newetowne  shall  henceforward  be  called  Cambrige")  in  honor  of 
the  university  in  Cambridge,  England,  where  many  of  the  early  settlers  were 
educated.  Cotton  Mather,  when  writing  of  the  ministry  of  the  beloved  Mr. 
Shepard,  says:  "When  the  foundation  of  a  college  was  to  be  laid,  Cambridge 
rather  than  any  other  place  was  pitched  upon  to  be  the  seat  of  that  happy 
seminary:  out  of  which  there  proceeded  many  notable  preachers,  who  were 
made  such  by  their  sitting  under  Mr.  Shepard's  ministery." 

163S— In  March  of  the  following  year  (1638),  the  Town  granted  2  2-3  acres  of 
land  forever,  for  the  use  of  the  college:  this  land  was  probably  that  on  which 
the  Hemenway  Gymnasium  now  stands,  which  was  later  exchanged  for 
land   now   within     the     College     yard,      near        Grays        Hall.  Of       the 

first  college  building  little  is  known,  but  it  is  thought  to  have  stood  near 
the  site  of  Grays  Hall.  It  contained  chambers,  studies,  a  kitchen  and  but- 
tery, with  a  turret  on  top.  "It  was  thought  by  some  too  gorgeous  for  a  wilder- 
ness, and  yet  too  mean  in  others'  apprehension  for  a  college."  Mr.  Nathaniel 
Eaton  was  the  first  instructor  of  this  school.  The  pupils  boarded  in  his  fam- 
ily, and  he  was  more  noted  for  parsimony  and  tyranny  than  for  ability  in 
teaching. 

_^1638— On  the  26th  of  September,  1638,  the  Reverend  John  Harvard  died.  His 
will  contained  a  bequest  to  the  new  college  of  one-half  of  his  fortune  (amount- 
ing to  about  700  pounds)  and  his  entire  library  of  260  volumes.  In  grateful 
recognition  of  this  generous  gift,  the  name  of  Harvard  was  given  to  this  col- 
lege. John  Harvard  had  been  a  student  at  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge, 
England,  from  1627  to  1635,  and  soon  after  his  graduation  and  marriage  he 
came  to  New  England,  where  he  settled  in  Charlestown. 

1640 — In  1640,  Henry  Dunster  was  chosen  president  of  Harvard  College  and 
enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  Its  first  president. 

1642 — The  first  class  of  nine  members  was  graduated  in  1642.  At  the  end  of 
ten  years,  the  college  being  in  need  of  more  room,  the  house  of  Edward  Goffe 
was  purchased,  which  was  thereafter  known  as  Goffe's  College. 

1649— During  the  early  part  of  1649,  the  town  made  another  grant  of  land 
to  Harvard  College,  consisting  of  one  hundred  acres. 

1653-4 — The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  erected  a  small  brick 
building  for  the  education  of  the  Indian  Youth;  this  was  called  the  Indian 
College;  only  one  Indian  was  graduated  from  this  college.  The  Indian  College 
was  soon  given  up  to  business,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  2nd  edition  of  the 
Indian  Bible  was  printed  in  this  building.  In  1661,  the  land  of  John  Betts, 
which  extended  from  the  meeting  house  northward,  and  included  the  site  of 
Harvard  Hall,  was  purchased  for  thirty  pounds,  given  by  Mr.  John  Paine  and 
Mr.  William  Paine,  merchants  of  Boston. 


22  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

1672— HARVARD  HALL:  Forty-five  towns  of  New  England  contributed  to 
the  fund  necessary  to  build  Harvard  Hall,  in  1672.  This  stood  at  the  left  of 
the  entrance  to  the  yard,  and  contained  the  library  of  John  Harvard,  with 
many  other  valuable  books,  the  chapel,  lecture  rooms,  philosophical  and  other 
apparatus,  dormitories,  a  kitchen  and  buttery.  During  the  epidemic  of  small- 
pox in  Boston,  in  1764,  the  Great  and  General  Court  adjourned  to  Cambridge 
and  held  its  sessions  in  Harvard  Hall.  On  the  night  of  January  26,  of  this  same 
year,  Harvard  Hall  was  destroyed  by  fire;  the  valuable  library  of  John  Har- 
vard with  5000  volumes,  and  the  apparatus  were  lost.  Harvard  Hall,  as  it  stands 
today,  was  rebuilt,  in  1764,  by  the  Provincial  Government;  it  contained  the  same 
accommodations  for  the  life  of  the  college  as  the  former  building;  from  the 
buttery  were  sold  to  the  students  such  proper  necessaries  as  wine,  liquors, 
groceries  and  stationery.  There  was  at  one  time  a  clock  on  the  building-,  which 
regulated  the  periods  of  the  college  life;  the  first  bell  in  the  cupola  was  once 
the  property  of  an  Italian  convent.  When  Cambridge  was  occupied  by  the 
Provincial  Army,  in  1775,  Harvard  Hall  was  used  for  barracks;  about  1000 
pounds  of  lead  were  taken  from  the  roof  and  moulded  into  bullets.  The  library 
was  removed  to  Andover  in  June,  1775,  to  Concord  the  following  November, 
and  finally  returned  to  Harvard  Hall  in  May,  1778.  Washington  was  received 
here  in  1798,  and  Munroe  in  1817.  It  has  never  been  used  as  a  students'  dormi- 
tory.   Commencement  dinners  were  served  here  from  1842  to  1871. 

1700— STOUGHTON  HALL:  The  first  Stoughton  was  built  directly  opposite 
the  entrance,  at  right  angles  with  Harvard  Hall,  and  to  the  south  of  it.  The 
new  hall  was  named  for  Lieutenant-Governor  William  Stoughton,  who  had  been 
a  benefactor  of  the  college.  As  chief  justice  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Col- 
ony, he  had  presided  at  Witchcraft  trials.  It  was  occupied  by  the  Amer- 
ican soldiers  during  the  Revolution.  Stoughton  was  abandoned  in 
1780  and  torn  down.  In  1804,  a  new  hall  was  built  at  the  north  of  Hollis,  three- 
fourths  of  the  amount  of  money  needed  being  raised  by  a  lottery,  which 
was  sanctioned  by  the  state.  For  a  few  years,  it  was  called  the  New  Hall,  but 
for  nearly  a  hundred  years  it  has  borne  the  name  of  Stoughton.  Here,  for  many 
years,  was  held  an  auction  for  the  sale  of  text  books,  the  proceeds  of  the  sale 
being  devoted  to  the  needs  of  worthy  students.  For  many  years,  the  Hasty 
Pudding  Club  had  reading  rooTns  in  Stoughton,  and  held  their  meetings  here. 
Among  the  celebrated  men  who  have  roomed  here  are  Charles  Sumner,  Rufus 
Choate,  Edward  Everett,  William  Everett,  Edw"ard  Everett  Hale,  George  Ban- 
croft, Prescott,  the  historian,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  President  Felton  and 
President  Eliot.  On  the  hearth  of  one  fire-place  are  carved  the  initials  P.  B., 
which  indicate  that  Phillips  Brooks  roomed  there. 

1718— MASSACHUSETTS  HALL:  The  Great  and  General  Court  granted  3,500 
pounds  to  build  another  college,  as  each  building  was  called.  This  was  named 
in  honor  of  the  province,  and,  in  1720,  Massachusetts  Hall  was  completed.  It 
is   the   oldest   building   now   standing   in   the   college   yard,    and    is   at   the   right 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  23 

of  the  main  entrance.  The  outside  has  never  been  changed.  It  was  used  for 
a  dormitory  until  1820,  when  partitions  were  taken  down  and  recitation  and 
society  rooms  were  arranged;  later  more  changes  were  made  so  that,  since 
1S70,  it  has  been  entirely  used  for  recitation  and  lecture  rooms.  In  Massachu- 
setts Hall  are  assembled  on  each  Commencement  Day  the  president  and  offi- 
cers of  the  university,  who  await  the  governor  of  the  commonwealth  and  the 
invited  guests.  From  here  the  celebrities  are  escorted  to  the  place  assigned  for 
the  exercises  of  the  day.  At  one  time,  there  was  a  clock  on  this  hall.  Many 
of  the  patriots  had  roomed  here  while  at  college,  as  well  as  many  of  the 
tories.  Among  the  men  0(f  the  present  time  who  have  had  rooms  in  Massa- 
chusetts Hall  may  be  mentioned  James  Freeman  Clarke,  Robert  G.  Shaw, 
George  Frisbie  Hoar,  and  Jared  Sparks. 

1726— WADSWORTH  HOUSE,  OR  PRESIDENT'S  HOUSE:  The  location  of 
the  first  President's  House  was  on  or  near  the  site  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Hall,  and  was  built  by  President  Dunster.  Pres- 
ident Wadsworth  wrote  as  follows,  regarding  the  new  house  for  the  president: 
"The  President's  House,  to  dwell  in,  was  raised  May  24,  1726.  No  life  was  lost, 
nor  person  hurt  in  raising  it;  thanks  be  to  God  for  his  preserving  goodness. 
In  the  evening,  those  who  raised  ye  House,  had  a  supper  in  ye  Hall  (Harvard), 
after  which  we  sang  ye  first  stave  or  staff  of  ye  127  Psalm."  Here  lived  the 
presidents  of  the  unniversity  for  more  than  100  years.  Edward  Everett  was  the 
last  president  who  occupied  it.  From  this  house  went  President  Langdon  to 
the  American  Army  assembled  on  the  common,  to  offer  prayer  to  Almighty 
God  that  the  cause  of  liberty  and  right  might  prosper.  When  Washington 
came  to  Cambridge,  to  take  command  of  the  army,  he  was  quartered  at  the 
President's  House  until  more  commodious  quarters  could  be  made  ready  for 
him.  During  the  siege  of  Boston,  this  house  was  used  for  the  commissary  de- 
partment. It  is  related  that,  during  the  siege  of  Boston,  a  shell  from  a 
British  gun  landed  near  this  house  with  the  fuse  still  burning  and  that  the 
soldier  who  stamped  it  out  was  long  regarded  as  a  hero.  Following  is  a  list 
of  presidents  who  have  lived  here:  Benjamin  WadsM'orth,  -1736;  Edward  Holy- 
oke,  1737-1769;  Samuel  Locke,  1770-1773;  Samuel  Langdon,  1774-17S0;  Joseph  Wil- 
lard,  1781-1804;  Samuel  Webber,  1806-1810;  John  Thornton  Kirkland,  1810-1828; 
Josiah   Quincy,  1829-1845;    Edward   Everett,   ]S46-1849. 

1736— HOLDEN  CHAPEL,  or  LADY  HOLDEN'S  CHAPEL:  This  chapel 
was  the  gift  of  the  widow  and  daughters  of  Samuel  Holden,  Esq.,  of  Eng- 
land. He  had  been  a  benefactor  of  the  college,  a  member  of  parliament  and' 
governor  of  the  Bank  of  England.  On  the  west  front  are  the  Holden  arms. 
Previous  to  the  building  of  this  chapel,  the  religious  services  were  held  in 
Harvard  Hall.  The  building  is  now  used  for  various  purposes.  Holden 
Chapel  is  north  of  Harvard  Hall  and  nearly  on  the  same  line. 

1756— HOLLIS  HALL:  The  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  granted  3000 
pounds  towards  the  building  of  another  hall;  this  was  named  for  Mr.  Thomas 
Hollis,  an  English  merchant  and  the  most  generous  benefactor  of  the  college 


24  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

of  the  eighteenth  century.     It  was  occupiefl  l)y  the   American  army  during  the 
Revolution.    Hollis  Hall  is  north  of  and  at  the  rear  of  Harvard  Hall. 

1764— HARVARD  HALL:     Rebuilt. 

1780— STOUGHTON  HALL:    Torn  down. 

1804— STOUGHTON  HALL:     Rebuilt  north  of  Hollis. 

1812— HOLWORTHY  HALL:  Sir  Matthew  Holworthy,  a  wealthy  English- 
man, left  Harvard  Colleg-e  1000  pounds.  When  a  new  hall  was  built,  it  was 
named  for  this  benefactor.  The  remainder  of  the  money  required  to  complete 
Holworthy  was  raised  by  a  lottery,  with  the  consent  of  the  government.  This 
was  the  last  hall  to  take  its  name  from  an  English  benefactor.  Holworthy 
is  the  favorite  residence  of  the  seniors,  and  the  class  numerals  are  displayed 
ou  its  front  the  evening  of  each  Class  Day.  Room  12  was  visited  by  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  when  on  his  visit  to  the  United  States,  in  1860,  and  by  the 
Grand  Duke  Alexis,  in  1871.  Its  rooms  have  been  the  home  of  more  noted 
men  than  any  of  the  other  halls.  It  faces  south  and  is  at  right  angles  to 
Stoug-hton  Hall. 

1815— UNIVERSITY  HALL.  Charles  Bulfmch  was  the  architect  of  Uni- 
versity Hall.  Soon  after  its  completion  a  portico  was  added  to  the  front,  which 
extended  the  entire  length,  but  this  was  removed  in  1842.  This  hall  has  always 
been  the  centre  of  the  administrative  life  of  the  university.  The  religious  life 
of  the  college  was  also  located  here,  at  one  time,  for  it  contained  a  chapel, 
where  were  held  the  daily  prayers  and  Sunday  services  until  1859,  when  Apple- 
ton  Chapel  was  opened.  The  meetings  of  the  faculty  of  arts  and  sciences  are 
now  held  in  this  chapel,  which  was  remodeled  for  that  purpose.  Exhi- 
tions  were  held  in  this  hall  until  1867,  and,  for  many  years,  the  first  floor  was 
used  for  commons,  or  dining  hall  for  the  students,  and,  on  Commencement 
Day,  for  the  alumni  dinner,  the  basement  being  used  as  a  kitchen.  Presidents 
Munroe,  Jackson  and  Van  Buren,  and  LaFayette  are  among  the  many  distin 
guished  men  who  have  been  received  here.  At  the  northerly  end  of  this  hall, 
there  once  stood  a  small  house,  where  the  liquids  for  the  students'  use  were 
brewed.  Tliis  was  known  as  the  Brew  House.  The  wood  yard  was  near  by,  so 
that  when  the  students  took  their  jugs  to  the  Brew  House,  for  their  ale,  they 
brought  in  their  wood  at  the  same  time. 

In  front  of  University  Hall  was  placed,  in  1905,  by  the  Harvard  Memorial 
Society,  a  large  slab  of  granolithic,  containing,  in  bronze,  a  plan  of  the  build- 
ings in  the  college  yard.  A  tablet  on  one  side  reads,  "The  dates  of  the  build- 
ings are  the  dates  of  the  first  occupation.  The  boundaries  of  the  older  lots  are 
in  many  cases  uncertain."  Visitors  will  find  this  plan  very  useful  in  locating 
the  various  buildings. 

1832— DANA-PEABODY  HOUSE:  The  house  at  the  southeasterly  corner 
of  the  yard,  on  Quincy  street,  was  probably  built  by  Dr.  Thomas  Foster, 
H.  C.  1805,  son  of  Bossenger  Foster,  who  bought  the  land  of  Rev.  Edmund 
Dana,  of  Wroxeter,  England,  in  1816.     This  estate  was  part  of  the  garden  of 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  25 

Edward  Goffe,  who  came  to  Cambridge  in  16R5.  He  had  32  acres,  bounded  west 
by  the  parsonage,  north  by  the  Danforth  estate,  east  by  land  of  Joseph  Cooke, 
near  Ellery  street,  south  by  the  old  road  to  the  Neck.  The  great-grand-dangli- 
ter  of  this  Edward  Goffe  married  Thomas  Trowbridge,  and  was  the  mother  of 
Judge  Edmund  Trowbridge,  attorney-general,  and  of  Lydia  Trowbridge  (the 
wife  of  Richard  Dana,  Esq.,  and  mother  of  Chief  Justice  Francis  Dana).  The 
poet,  Richard  H.  Dana,  with  his  three  unmarried  sisters  and  his  children,  lived 
here  from  1S22  till  1832.  The  two  younger  sisters  had  been  engaged  to  Dr. 
Foster's  two  brothers  who  died,  in  Cambridge,  within  a  week  of  each 
other,  in  1S17.  The  eldest  of  the  sisters,  Miss  Martha  Remington  Dana,  mar- 
rier  Washington  Allston,*  in  this  house,  in  1830.  Dr.  Thomas  Foster  died  in 
1831,  and  his  brother  Andrew's  widow  and  children  sold  the  estate  to  Harvard 
College,  in  1835,  including  the  land  w^here  the  President's  House  now  stands. 
From  1832,  it  has  been  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  college.  A  revolving  dome  was 
added,  in  1839,  for  the  use  of  the  department  of  astronomy.  President  Felton 
occupied  this  house  during  his  term  of  ofRce.  It  was  long  the  residence  of  Dr. 
Andrew  P.  Peabody,  the  notod  "Plummer  Professor  of  Christian  Morals."  Of 
late  years,  it  has  been  the  home  of  Professor  Palmer. 

1832— DANE  HALL:  Dane  Hall  was  the  gift  of  Nathan  Dane,  of  Beverley. 
Mass.  For  fifty  years,  it  was  tl>e  law  school  of  the  university,  but,  since 
Austin  Hall  was  built,  where  now  the  law  studios  are  pursued,  Dane  Hall 
has  been  used  for  various  purposes  of  the  college.  It  was  moved  a  short  dis- 
tance to  the  south,  when  Matthews  was  built,  was  enlarged  in  1845  and 
again  in  1S91. 

1838— GORE  HALL:  Gore  Hall  contains  the  library  of  Harvard  University. 
It  was  built  from  the  fund  bequeathed  by  Christopher  Gore,  who  died  in  1829. 
Richard  Bond  was  the  architect.  It  was  enlarged  in  1887  and  remodeled  in 
1897.  Besides  the  library  of  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  million  volumes,  there 
are  many  rare  and  valuable  relics  of  historic  interest  within  its  walls.  It  was 
built  in  the  north  end  of  the  land  known  as  the  Fellows'  Orchard.  This  was  a 
garden  bequeathed  by  Matthew  Daye,  son  of  Stephen,  the  printer,  Avho  was 
steward  of  Harvard  College,  and  who  died  in  1649.  In  his  will,  he  gives  three- 
quarters  of  this  land  with  these  words:  "I  doe  give  with  all  my  heart  that 
part  I  have  in  the  Garden  unto  the  Fellows  cf  Harvard  College  forever."  The 
fourth  part  was  given,  In  1645,  by  Mr.  John  Buckley,  first  master  of  arts  in 
Harvard  College,  "for  the  use  of  the  Fellows  that  should  from  time  to  time 
belong  to  and  be  resident  at  the  said  society."  It  was  just  west  of  the  par- 
sonage land. 

1857— BOYLSTON  HALL:  Boylston  Hall  was  built  from  a  bequest  of  Ward 
Nicholas  Boylston,  and  a  sum  of  money  raised  by  subscription.  It  is  used 
by  the  department  of  chemistry  and  was  enlarged  in  the  years  1875,  1891  and 


•Washington    Allston's    studio    stood    until    1867    on    corner    of    Auburn    and 
Magazine  streets.   It  was  then  removed  to  Valentine  street  where  it  still  stands. 


26  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

1S95.  There  are  three  interesting  tablets  on  the  wall  which  faces  Massachusetts 

Avenue,  viz.: 

Here  was  the  homestead  of 

Thomas  Hooker  1633-36 

First  Pastor  of  Newtown 

Thomas  Shepard  1636-49  |  John  Leverett  1696-1724 

Jonathan  Mitchell  1650-68  |  Tresident  of  Harvard  College 

First  and  second  ministers  |  Edward  Wigglesworth   1726-68 

Of  the  First  Church  of  Cambridge  First  Hollis  Professor  of  Divinity 

and 

Edward  "Wigglesworth 

Second  Plollis  Professor  of  Divinity 

SEWALL  HOUSE  (A33):  Between  the  house  of  Professor  V/igglesworth  and 
the  parsonage  stood  the  house  of  Professor  Stephen  Sewall,  who  succeeded 
Judah  Monis  as  professor  of  Hebrew.  He  married  Rebecca,  daughter  of  the  first 
Professor  AVigglesworth,  August  9,  1763,  and,  two  years  later,  bought  of  his 
father-in-law  the  easterly  end  of  his  lot,  and  built  the  house  where  he  lived 
until  his  death,  in  1S04.  The  following  year  this  house  and  the  land,  a  little 
less  than  an  acre,  became  the  property  of  the  college. 

1858— APPLETON  CHAPEL:  The  second  building  to  be  devoted  to  religious 
worship  was  the  gift  of  Samuel  Appleton,  of  Boston.  The  improvements  were 
added  by  his  children.  Here  are  held  the  daily  prayers,  at  8.45,  the  vesper 
services,  on  Thursday  afternoons,  and  the  services,  on  Sunday  evenings.  At- 
tendance at  the  daily  morning  prayers  was  compulsory  until  1886,  when,  by 
vote  of  the  faculty,  the  attendance  was  to  be  voluntary.  The  services  are 
conducted  by  celebrated  preachers  of  diverse  denominations  from  all  parts  of 
the  United  States. 

1861— PRESIDENT'S  HOUSE:  The  President's  House  faces  Quincy  street. 
It  was  the  gift  of  Mr.  Peter  C.  Brooks,  of  Boston,  who,  in  1846,  gave  ten 
thousand  dollars  for  erecting  a  house  for  the  president.  President  Hill  was 
the  first  to  occupy  it,  from  1862  to  1868.  It  has  been  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Charles  W.  Eliot  since  1869.  He  has  held  the  ofl^ce  of  president  five  years 
longer  than  Edward  Holyoke,  who  was  president  32  years.  No>  president  has 
exceeded  this  long  term. 

1863— GRAYS  HALL:  Grays  Hall  was  built  by  the  college,  in  honor  of  three 
generous  benefactors  of  the  university,  Francis  Galley  Gray,  who  graduated  in 
1809,  John  Chipman  Gray,  H.  C.  1811,  William  Gray,  H.  C.  1829. 

1869-70— THAYER  HALL:  Thayer  Hall  was  built  by  Nathaniel  Thayer,  of 
Boston,  in  memory  of  his  father,  Nathaniel  Thayer,  H.  C.  1789,  and  of  his 
bt-other,   John   Eliot  Thayer,   who   founded   the   Thayer   scholarship. 

1871-2— WELD  HALL:  Weld  Hall  was  the  gift  of  William  Fletcher  Weld, 
in  memory  of  his  brother,  Stephen  Minot  Weld,  H.  C.  1826. 

1872— MATTHEWS  HALL:  Matthews  Hall  was  the  gift  of  Nathan  Mat- 
thews, of  Boston.  One-half  of  the  income  from  the  rooms  is  used  to  assist  de- 
seri'ing  students.     There  are  fifteen  scholarships  paid  from  this  fund. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  27 

1882— SEVER  HALL:  Sever  Hall  was  built  from  the  bequest  of  Mrs.  Ann 
P.  Sever,  widow  of  Colonel  James  Warren  Sever,  H.  C.  1817.  H.  H.  Richardson 
was  the  architect.     It  contains  only  lecture  and  recitation  halls. 

1890— JOHNSTON  GATE:  This  is  the  main  entrance  gate  of  the  college 
yard  and  is  between  Massachusetts  and  Harvard  Halls.  It  was  the  gift  of 
Samuel  Johnston,  of  Chicago. 

1891— MEYER  GATE:  The  Meyer  Gate  is  nearly  opposite  the  statue  of  John 
Harvard,  in  the  Memorial  Hall  triangle.  It  was  built  by  George  von  L.  Meyer, 
of  Boston. 

1895— WILLIAM  HATES  FOGG  ART  MUSEUM:  The  Fogg  Art  Museum 
was  built  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fogg,  of  New  York,  in  memory  of  her  husband. 
It  contains  various  rooms  for  the  exhibition  of  works  of  art,  besides  a  lecture 
hall. 

1898— PHILLIPS  BROOKS  HOUSE:  This  memorial  to  Phillips  Brooks  is  the 
centre  of  all  tho  religious  and  philanthropic  Avork  of  the  university.  It  was 
built  bj^  the  contributions  of  men  and  women  who  respected  and  loved  the 
great  preacher,  and  cost  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

1902— NELSON  ROBINSON,  JR.,  HALL:  The  building  at  the  corner  of 
Quincy  street  and  Broadway  was  the  gift  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nelson  Robinson, 
of  New  York,  for  a  memorial  to  their  son,  Nelson  Robinson,  Jr.,  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1900,  whoi  died  before  graduation.  It  is  devoted  to  the  use 
of  the  department  of  architecture. 

1905— EMERSON  HALL:  Emerson  Hall,  the  last  to  be  erected,  is  named 
for  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  and  is  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  department  of 
philosophy.    The  money  for  its  erection  was  raised  by  public  subscriptions. 

1760— CLASS  TREE:  The  board  of  overseers  passed  a  vote  that  the  stu- 
dents be  allowed  to  meet  by  the  Tree,  on  Class  Day,  and  be  allowed  to  drink 
punch,  in  a  sober  manner.  The  punch  was  served  in  buckets.  The  festivities 
around  the  tree  were  abandoned  in  1898.  This  famous  tree  is  in  the  quadrangle 
formed  by  Harvard,  Hollis  and  Holden  Chapel. 

1806— WOOD  YARD.  The  college  wood-yard  was  at  the  present  site  of  Uni- 
versity Hall. 

REBELLION  TREE:  Another  tree  of  note  is  the  one  which  stood  at  the  east 
front  of  Hollis  Hall.  Under  its  branches  the  dissatisfied  students  would  gather 
to  express  their  disapproval  of  any  measures  of  the  faculty  which  failed  to 
meet  with  their  approbation;  hence,  its  name  of  Rebellion  Tree. 

THE  PUMP:  Southeast  of  Massachusetts  Hall  there  stood,  for  many  dec- 
ades the  pump  which  supplied  the  water  necessary  for  the  toilet  of  the  stu- 
dents as  well  as  that  for  drinking  purposes.  It  was  the  same  spring  at  which 
Professor  Wigglesworth  used  to  water  his  cow,  before  the  Revolution.  A  few 
years  ago,  some  one  blew  up  the  pump,  which,  for  some  reason,  has  not  been 
replaced.  A  cut  of  the  College  Pump  may  be  found  in  the  Harvard  Illustrated 
Magazine  of  June  16,  1900. 


28  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

THE  TABLETS:  The  tablets  which  are  placed  on  some  of  the  buildings  are 
cast  from  the  bell  which  hung-  in  the  belfry  of  Harvard  Hall,  from  1836  to  1900. 

THE  FENCE:  The  different  sections  of  the  fence  which  encloses  the  colleg-e 
yard  have  been  built  by  various  classes  among  the  alumni.  The  class  numerals 
are  wrought  in  some  prominent  portion  of  each  section,  usually  in  the  middle. 
Entrance  gates  have  been  built  at  the  different  entrances,  some  as  memorials 
and  others  by  the  various  clubs. 

ADDENDA:  Six  years  after  the  first  house  was  built  in  the  settlement,  to 
be  known  in  after  years  as  Cambridge,  the  foundation  of  Harvard  University 
was  laid;  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  years  after  its  foundation  occurred  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  when  the  students  were  removed  to  Concord.  The  build- 
ings then  standing  in  the  yard  were  all  used  to  accommodate  the  patriot  army. 
In  less  than  two  years,  the  students  returned  to  Cambridge;  one  hundred  and 
thirty  yars  have  passed  since  this  short  interrruption  of  the  student  life  in 
the  college  yard;  the  first  class  graduated  in  1642,  and  comprised  nine  mem- 
bers;  there  were  graduated  in  the  class  of  1904,  454  (A.  B.) 

The  college  yard  is  now  bounded  by  Harvard  street,  Massachusetts  avenue, 
Quincy  street,  Broadway,  Cambridge  street,  Peabody  street  and  Harvard 
square.  The  dates  when  various  estates  were  acquired  by  the  college  is  af- 
fixed, with  the  names  of  those  from  whom  deeded:  Town  grant,  1638;  Sweet- 
man,  1677;  Betts,  1661;  Meeting-house,  1833;  Goffe,  (?);  Eaton,  about  1640; 
Wigglesworth,  1794;  Sewall,  1805;  Fellows'  Orchard,  1642;  Parsonage,  1833;  Fos- 
ter estate,  1835;  Bigelow  estate,  1835;  Appleton  pasture,  1786. 

PRESIDENTS  OF  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY:  Henry  Dunster,  1640-1654 
Charles  Chauncy,  1654-1671;  Leonard  Hoar,  1672-1674;  Urian  Oakes,  1675-1681 
John  Rogers,  1682-1684;  Increase  Mather,  1685-1701;  Samuel  Willard,  1701-1707 
John  Leverett,  1707-1724;  Benjamin  Wadsworth,  1725-1736;  Edward  llolyoke, 
1737-1769;  Samuel  Locke,  1770-1773;  Samuel  Langdon,  1774-1780;  Joseph  Wil- 
lard, 1781-1804;  Samuel  Webber,  1806-1810;  John  Thornton  Kirkland,  1810-1828; 
Josiah  Quincy,  1829-1845;  Edward  Everett,  1846-1849;  Jared  Sparks,  1S49-1S53; 
James  Walker,  1853-1860;  Cornelius  Conway  Felton,  1860-1862;  Thomas  Hill, 
1862-1868;  Charles  William  Eliot,  1869.  A.  L.  L.  W. 

Harvard  College  Lottery.  \ 

THIS  TICKET  -will  entitle  tlie  bearer  to  such  pJJlZ^gT^Tiray  he  < 
drawn  against  its  number  ;   agreeably  to  an  act  of  the  General  Court  < 
of  Massachusetts,  passed  the  14th  da/ of  March,  1806.  < 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  29 

THE    COURT    HOUSE    AND    JAIL. 

The  early  history  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  gives  Cambridge  a 
prominent  place  in  administrative  and  judicial  affairs.  In  1630,  the  seat  of 
government  was  established  here,  and  the  elections  for  governor  and  magis- 
trates were  held  annually  on  the  common.  In  1634,  the  General  Court,  a  body 
which  had  both  legislative  and  judicial  power,  and  administered  the  whole 
affairs  of  the  colony,  transferred  its  sessions  from  Boston  to  Cambridge;  and 
on  several  occasions,  too,  when  for  any  reason  the  body  chose  to  meet  else- 
where than  at  Boston,  it  was  to  Cambridge  that  it  came.  The  constitution 
of  Massachusetts,  adopted  1779,  was  framed  at  Cambridge — showing  once  more 
the  continued  importance  of  the  town  in  matters  of  law  and  government. 

With  the  increase  of  population  came  the  need  for  more  tribunals  of 
justice  than  had  been  at  first  arranged  for,  and  the  General  Court  in 
1635  ordered  four  separate  courts  to  be  held  every  quarter  at  Boston,  Ip- 
swichi  Salem  and  Cambridge — then  called  New  Towne;  these  courts  to  be 
presided  over  by  such  magistrates  as  dw^elt  in  or  near  those  towns,  or  such 
persons  as  should  from  time  to  time  be  appointed  by  the  General  Court, 
and  in  1639  several  new  courts  were  created. 

When  the  colony  was  divided  into  counties,  in  1643,  and  Middlesex  coun- 
ty was  Incorporated,  Cambridge  continued  the  shire  town  of  the  county, 
where  county  courts  were  held  and  records  kept.  In  1652,  the  increase  of 
business  necessitated  the  holding  of  two  additional  courts  a  year  for  the 
county,  with  sessions  at  Charlestown.  A  court  house  and  a  jail  were  erected 
there,  and  the  courts  were  held  regularly  for  many  years.  At  a  later  date, 
courts  were  established  and  buildings  erected  at  Concord  and  Lowell. 

There  have  been  a  number  of  buildings  used  for  the  courts  in  Cambridge, 
all  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  present  one,  have  been  located  in 
or  near  Harvard  square,  and  used  jointly  by  the  county  and  town. 

FIRST    COURT    HOUSE,    1671,    SECOND    COURT    HOUSE    1707-1758    (A37). 

Precisely  when  the  first  court  house  was  built  is  not  known.  One  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  1671,  and  there  is  no  positive  knowledge  of  any  other 
court  house  until  1707,  when  one  was  erected  on  a  spot  about  the  middle  of 
Harvard  square.  This  structure  was  of  wood.  The  records  of  the  Court 
of  Sessions,  of  April  23,  1707,  give  us  some  idea  of  what  the  building  must 
have  been  like,  and  what  it  cost.  It  was  "agreed  by  the  justices  .... 
that  there  be  allowed  out  of  the  county  treasury,  toward  the  erecting  a 
suitable  court  house  for  the  use  of  the  county  in  the  town  of  Cambridge, 
thirty  pounds,  the  one-half  therof  to  be  paid  at  the  raising  and  covering, 
and  the  other  half  at  the  finishing  of  the  same;  the  said 
house     to     be     not     less     than     four    and  twenty  foot  wide  and  eight  and 


80  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

twenty  foot  long,  and  height  proportionable."  The  records  of  the  Pro- 
prietors of  the  Common  Lands  of  Cambridge  show  that  land  was  donated 
for  the  building.  "We  learn,  furthermore,  that,  in  consideration  of  a  pay- 
ment of  twenty  pounds,  two  citizens  of  the  town  were  given  permission  to 
build,  at  their  own  expense,  a  lower  story  for  offices  for  their  own  private 
use  as  long  as  the  building  should  stand,  provided  they  constructed  an 
entry  and  stairway  six  feet  wide  leading  up  to  the  court  room  above.  This 
structure,  diminutive  as  it  now  seems,  was  used  by  the  courts  for  about 
fifty  years. 


THIRD  COURT  HOUSE,  1758-1S16  (A37). 

In  1757-8,  on  the  lot  of  land  now  occupied  by  the  Lyceum  Building,  at 
Harvard  square,  a  new  and  larger  court  house  was  built.  This  was  the 
famous  "Old  Court  House."  It  was  a  wooden  structure,  like  its  predeces- 
sors, thirty  feet  wide  by  forty  long,  and  adorned  with  a  cupola.  The  build- 
ing presented  a  very  attractive  appearance.  The  foundation  was  of 
hewn  stone,  and  the  upper  part  of  the  house  of  ash,  painted  a  pale  yellow, 
making  a  pretty  contrast  with  the  big  door,  which  was  of  red.  There  was  a 
broad,  slanting  roof  of  gray,  and  above  it  the  imposing  cupola.  Altogether,  it 
was  a  public  building  of  which  the  town  might  well  be  proud.  It  is  in- 
teresti'ng  to  note  that  some  of  the  timbers  used  in  the  construction  of 
this  building  were  taken  from  the  third  meeting  house,  demolished  in  1756. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  31 

The  old  court  house  was  the  scene  of  many  a  legal  battle  waged  by  men 
who  won  renown  in  the  law— Pratt,  Gridley,  Trowbridge— fighting  it  out 
on  the  floor,  with.  Justices  Sewall,  Hutchinson,  or  Lynde  on  the  bench — 
all  these  in  colonial  times.  After  the  Revolution,  the  court  house  saw  many 
other  well  known  men— Chief  Justices  Dana  and  Parsons,  Lawyers  Dexter, 
H.  G.  Otis  and  the  rest.  The  opening  of  court  in  the  old  court  house  must 
have  been  an  interesting  sight— the  judges  in  their  "robes  of  scarlet  Eng- 
lish cloth,  their  broad  bands,  and  their  immense  judicial  wigs,"  the  barristers 
in  "bands,  gowns  and  tyewigs." 

Court  was  held  in  this  court  house  until  1816,  when  the  building 
was  abandoned  for  county  purposes.  It  continued  to  be  the  property  of 
the  town,  however,  and  was  employed  for  various  public  uses.  Town  meet- 
ings were  held  there  until  1831;  it  was  used  as  a  place  of  worship  by  the 
Orthodox  Church  while  their  new  edifice  was  building;  and  it  served  for 
some  time  as  the  headquarters  of  the  "Citizens'  Patrol,"  an  organization 
formed  in  the  early  forties  to  guard  against  fires  being  set  by  incendiaries. 
In  1841,  the  structure  was  sold  and  removed,  and  since  then  it  has  been  re- 
moved to  the  northwest  corner  of  Brattle  and  Palmer  streets,  where  it  still 
remains.  In  the  years  since  1841,  the  old  court  house  has  served  many  uses 
not  contemplated  when  it  was  built.  It  was  at  first  used  as  a  billiard  room 
and  bowling  alley;  next,  for  a  gymnasium  and  fencing  school;  and,  finally,  as 
au  addition  to  a  store,  which  is  its  present  use. 

FIRST  JAIL,  1655-1692  (A48). 

Although  Cambridge  had  a  jail  almost  as  soon  as  a  court  house— perhaps 
sooner— the  buildings  were  for  many  years  entirely  separate.  The  earliest 
record  we  have  of  any  place  used  as  a  jail  is  in  1655.  On  January  seventh 
of  that  year,  the  County  Court  of  Middlesex  made  provision  for  a  "House 
of  Correction"  by  purchasing  of  Andrew  Stevenson,  of  Cambridge,  his  dwel- 
ling house  and  about  half  a  rood  of  land  adjoining.  The  price  paid  was 
to  be  "sixteen  pounds,  in  cattle,  or  ISli  in  corn."  Stevenson  was  ap- 
pointed keeper  of  the  jail.  At  the  same  time,  an  addition  twenty-six  feet 
long,  with  proportions  the  same  as  those  of  the  original  house,  was  pro- 
vided for.  This  house  stood  on  Holyoke  street,  near  the  corner  of  Mount 
Auburn,  and  was  used  as  a  jail  until  the  erection  of  the  prison,  in  1G92. 
The  place  of  execution,  the  "Gallows  Lot,"  was  situated  on  Jones's  Hill, 
north  of  Linnaean  street.  There,  in  1755,  an  old  negro 
woman  named  Phillis  was  burned  alive  for  murdering  her  master,  Captain 
Codman,  of  Charlestown,  this  being  one  of  the  last  of  such,  atrocious  pun- 
ishments in  the  colonies. 


32  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

SECOND  JAIL,  1C92-1816  (A48). 

The  jail,  erected  in  1692,  stood  on  the  northerly  side  of  Winthrop  street,  be- 
tween Winthrop  square  and  Eliot  street.  It  was  built  at  the  time  of  the 
witchcraft  excitement  in  New  England,  and  its  first  inmates  seem  to  have 
been  poor  unfortunates  charged  with  being  witches.  In  1703,  an  addition 
eighteen  feet  square  was  made  to  the  prison  on  the  west  side.  A  dozen 
years  later,  the  old  part  was  so  unsatisfactory  that  tlie  court  ordered  it 
replaced  by  "a  well-built  house  for  a  prison  with  accommodations  for  a 
keeper."  The  jail  was  to  be  thirty- six  feet  in  length,  and  of  a  width  to 
conform  to  the  foundations  of  the  old  "Gaol."  It  was  a  two-story  building, 
with   a  stack  of  chimneys  in   the  middle. 

The  jail,  together  with  the  one  at  Concord,  continued  in  use  until  1816, 
when  court  buildings  and  jail  were  brought  together  in  the  new  struc- 
tures at  East  Cambridge. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  removal  of  the  prison  buildings  to  East  Cam- 
bridge, the  Cambridge  jail  had  thirteen  different  keepers,  with  terms  of  office 
ranging  from  a  year  to  thirty-three  years.  The  following  is  a  list,  with 
terms  of  office,  as  far  as  they  can  be  determined  from  the  records:  An- 
drew Stevenson,  1656-72;  William  Healy,  1672-82;  Daniel  Cheever,  1682- 
93;  Israel  Cheever  (son  of  the  former),  1693-94;  Timothy  Phillips,  1694-1701(7); 
Samuel  Cooking,  1702-29;  Samuel  Dummer,  1729-31;  Richard  Foster,  1731-64; 
David  Phipps,  1764-75;  James  Prescott,  1775-81;  Loami  Baldwin,  1781-94;  John 
Goodwin,  1794-98;  Jacob  Watson,  1798-1813;  Isaac  Train,  1813-1828  (continuing 
to  hold  the  office  after  the  removal  to  East  Cambridge).  Paige,  in  History 
of  Cambridge,  p.  497,  says  that  Isaac  Bradish,  father-in-law  of  John 
Goodwin,  was  jailor  for  some  years  before  1790.  If  so,  he  must  have  been 
substitute  for  Baldwin,  as  his  name  does  not  appear  on  the  records.  This 
list  was  carefully  pi'epared  by  the  late  John  M.  Fisk. 

We  have  seen  that  the  county  courts  removed  from  Harvard  square  to 
East  Cambridge  in  1816.  This  removal  involves  several  interesting  bits  of 
local  history.  On  the  third  of  March,  1810,  the  General  Court  had  incorpor- 
ated the  "Lechmere  Point  Corporation,"  a  financial  concern  which  had  a 
brilliant  career.  This  corporation  having  completed  the  bridge  to  Boston, 
and  desiring  to  promote  its  interests  and  attract  settlers  to  this  part  of 
the  town,  on  the  first  of  November,  1813,  offered  to  convey  to  the  county 
a  square  bounded  by  Otis,  Second,  Thorndike,  and  Third  streets,  together 
with  a  lot  seventy-five  feet  in  width  across  the  westerly  side  of  the  square, 
and  expend  the  sum  of  $24,000  to  erect  a  court  house  and  jail.  The  Court 
of  Sessions,  at  its  December  term,  formally  accepted  the  offer,  and  when, 
at  the  March  term  of  1816,  a  committee  reported  the  building  finished,  the 
removal  was  ordered  at  once  from  Harvard  square  to  the  location  above 
Indicated.    This   was  the  beginning  of  the    courts    at    East    Cambridge.    In 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  83 

1848,  wings  were  added  to  the  new  court  building,  and  again,  in  1877,  ex- 
tensive additions  were  made;  and,  in  1S96,  the  legislature  ordered  the  con- 
struction of  the  commodious  and  imposing  edifice  which  is  now  the  home 
of  the  Courts  of  Probate  and  Insolvency;  the  Registry  of  Probate,  Insol- 
vency, and  of  Deeds.  These  noble  monuments  to  law  and  order  have  a 
further  claim  upon  our  regard  than  their  mere  judicial  significence,  how- 
ever great  that  may  be;  they  stand  on  historic  ground.  It  was  here  that 
the  British  landed  on  the  night  before  the  battle  of  Lexington,  and  covering 
the  summit  of  the  hill  was  Fort  Putnam.  Surely,  nothing  could  be  more 
fitting  than  that  right  and  justice  should  be  administered  where  they  were 
first  fought  for  and  won— on  the  early  battlefields   of   the   Revolution. 

G.   J.  W. 

BOTLSTON  STREET. 
Boylston  street  was  called,  until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Wood 
street,  and  is  often  mentioned  in  deeds,  "as  the  road  that  leadeth  from  the 
Market  Place  to  the  Great  Bridge."  It  was  also  called  the  "Causeway,"  and 
for  many  years  during  the  nineteenth  century  bore  the  name  of  Brighton 
street.  After  the  building  of  the  Great  Bridge,  in  1662,  it  became  the  prin- 
cipal entrance  to  the  town.  At  first  there  were  but  few  land-owners  on  this 
street,  and  each  house  was  surrounded  by  a  garden,  but  later  shops  were 
built  on  the  unoccupied  land,  and  especially  on  the  east  side  there  were  many 
owners. 

BRADSTREET-PELHAM    HOUSE— FAR  WELL'S  CORNER.     (A38.) 

Cambridge  can  claim  Simon  and  Anne  Bradstreet  among  its  people  for  a 
short  time  only.  They  were  in  Governor  Winthrop's  company,  which  settled 
Newtowne  in  1630.  They  built  their  first  New  England  home  on  the  southerly 
side  of  Harvard  square,  at  the  corner  of  what  is  now  Boylston  street.  They 
also  owned  an  acre  and  a  half  of  land  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  square, 
where  the  court  house  afterwards  stood. 

In  1635,  they  joined  a  party,  which  a  few  years  previously  had  gone  from 
Newetowne  and  founded  Ipswich.  In  1644,  they  moved  to  Andover  and  built 
a  house.  This,  with  its  contents,  including  family  portraits,  heirlooms  and  a 
library  of  eight  hundred  books,  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  July  10,  1666.  It  was 
rebuilt  practically  on  the  same  lines  and  was  standing  in  1905. 

Simon  Bradstreet  was  born  in  Hoebling,  England,  in  1603,  the  son  of  a  min- 
ister, who  was  one  of  the  first  fellows  of  Emmanuel  College,  and  grandson  of  a 
Suffolk  gentleman  of  fine  estate.  Simon  received  his  education  in  the  gram- 
mar schools,  followed  by  one  year  at  Emmanuel  College. 

When  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  was  taken  into  the  household  of  the  Earl  of 

Lincoln  and  trained  to  the  duties  of  Steward  by  Thomas  Dudley,  who  later 

became  Governor  Dudley. 

3 


34  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

When  twenty-five  years  of  age,  he  married  Anne  (aged  sixteen),  eldest 
daughter  of  Thomas  and  Dorothy  (Yorke)  Dudley,  with  whom,  a  year  later,  he 
sailed  for  New  England  in  the  ship  "Arbella,"  accompanied  by  the  ships 
"Talbot,"  "Ambrose"  and  "Jewell."  The  voyage  was  an  eventful  one.  They 
were  delayed  for  a  week  by  contrary  winds.  After  these  had  subsided,  the 
party  sighted  what  they  took  to  be  an  hostile  fleet  bearing  down  upon  them 
and  prepared  for  battle,  at  which  time  they  threw  away  many  hounehold  ef- 
fects, including  bedding  prepared  for  their  new  homes  in  the  wilderness.  The 
ships  proved  to  be  friendly  ones,  and,  after  exchanging  salutes,  the  fleet 
which  carried  Winthrop's  party  continued  its  journey  westward. 

Anne  Bradstreet,  born  in  1612,  in  Northamptonshire,  probably  near  Canon's 
Ashby,  was  a  gentle,  retiring  woman,  sympathetic  and  tactful,  the  mother 
of  eight  children,  four  sons  and  four  daughters. 

She  was  the  first  American  poetess,  the  only  woman  to  achieve  literary 
distinction  in  the  early  colonial  times.  The  first  ten  years  in  the  new  country 
were  the  most  fruitful  ones  in  a  literary  sense.  Her  first  poem,  bearing  date 
of  1632,  is  on  a  short  fit  of  sickness.  "In  Cambridge  the  muse  of  poetry  first 
inspired  her."  In  1642,  when  living  in  Ipswich,  she  dedicated  her  first  volume 
of  poetry  entitled  "The  Tenth  Muse,  Lately  Sprung  Up  in  America,"  to  her 
father,  Thomas  Dudley.  It  was  not  published  until  1650.  Several  editions 
have  followed. 

As  a  specimen  of  Anne  Bradstreet's  poetry,  we  give  the  following,  which  is 
as  good  a  description  of  the  ideal  woman  of  the  twentieth  century  as  it  was 
of  the  seventeenth: 

AN  EPITAPH. 

On  my  dear  and  ever  honoured  Mother, 
Mistress  Dorothy  [Yorke]  Dudley, 
Who  dyed  December  27,  1643,  Aged  61. 
Here  lyes: 
A  worthy  Matron  of  unspotted  life, 
A  loving  Mother  and  obedient  wife, 
A  friendly  neighbor  pitiful  to  poor, 
Whom  oft  she  fed  and  clothed  with  her  store, 
To  servants  wisely  aweful,  but  yet  kind. 
And  as  they  did  so  they  reward  did  find; 
A  true  instructor  of  her  family, 
The  which  she  ordered  with  dexterity. 
The  publick  meetings  she  did  oft  fi-equent, 
And  in  her  Closet  constant  hours  she  spent; 
Religious  in  all  her  words  and  wayes 
Preparing  still  for  death  till  end  of  dayes; 
Of  all  her  Children,  Children  lived  to  see, 
Then  dying  left  a  blessed  memory. 

ANNE  (DUDLEY)   BRADSTREET. 

Though  it  was  only  as  a  poetess  that  Anne  Bradstreet  was  known  in  her 
time,  her  real  strength  lay  in  prose,  as  shown  by  her  "Meditations,  Divine  and 
Morall,"  written  at  the  request  of  her  second  son.  Rev.  Simon  Bradstreet,  and 
dated  March  20,  1664.  Most  of  her  life  an  invalid,  she  seemed  to  seek  relief 
from  suffering  in  her  literary  work,  a  great  part  of  which  consists  of  versifica- 


MAP  A. 

1.  Governor  Dudley-Harlakenden-Pelham. 

2.  Alleu-Chesholme-P"'irst  Taveru-Isaac  Daye-Fessenden-Tyng. 

3.  Cutter-Benoni  Eatoii-Uunker-Moore. 

4.  First  Meeting  House. 

5.  Hopkins-Edmund  Angier-Stedman. 

6.  Austiu-Blodgett-Frost-Haddou-Kempster-Holden-Post. 

7.  Stnnley-Cliampney-Freucli-Barrett-Morse. 

8.  Stebbins-Collins-Aldus-Steplien  Uaye-Willard's  Hotel. 

9.  George  Stfele-Goffe-Bordman. 

10.  Hancock-Danforth-Hioks. 

11.  Cane-Towue-Bainbridge-Hancock. 

12.  Heate-Marrett-Stone-Samuel      Andrew-Captain     Edward      Marrett-Southern 

Club. 

13.  Samuel  Dudley-Saunders-Shop  of  Edmund  Angier-Whittemore. 

14.  Master   Elijali   Corlett-Hepzibah   Champuey-Ammi   Ruhamah    Cutter-Trow- 

bridge. 

15.  Andrew-Uslier. 

16.  Simon  Willard-Mitchelson-Green-Coolidge-Hicks. 

17.  Bridge. 

18.  Benjamin-Payne-Manning-Remington. 

19.  Benjamin  Betts-Elder  Jonas  Clarke-.James  Clark-Osgood  and  Farrington. 

20.  Fisher-Edward   Sliepard-Warland-Gookiu-Hill. 

21.  Westwood-Betts-Jolin  Shepard. 

22.  Lewis-William  Cutter-Bridge. 

23.  Stocking-Manning-Goddard-GoTe-Batson. 

24.  Abbott-Moore-Sawtell-Hovey. 

25.  Green-Judge  Edmund  Trowbridge. 

26.  Widow   Muzzey-Luxford-Widow   Glover-Dunster-First,   second,   third  school- 

house. 

27.  Wadsworth-Richard  Champney. 

28.  John  Steele-Bradish-Goffe. 
28a.  Goodwin-Samuel  Shepard. 

29.  Redding-Hart-Richards-Joseph    Cooke-Bradish-President    Holyoke-Pearson. 
29a.  White-Collins. 

30.  Apthorp  (B'shop's  Palace)-Borland-QuarTers  of  Putnam  and  Burgoyne. 

31.  Daniel  Gookin-Oliver-Phips-Winthrop-McKay. 

32.  Old  Parsonage. 

33.  Sewall. 

34.  Hooker-Thomas  Shepard-Mitchell-Leverett-Wigglesworth. 

35.  President's  or  Wadsworth  House. 

36.  Second,  Third  and  Fourth  Meeting-houses. 

37.  Court  House. 

38.  Eradstreet-Pelham. 

39.  Rev.  Samuel  Stone-Nathaniel  Sparhawk-Gove-Bunker. 

40.  Thomas  Beale-Andrew  Belcher-Blue  Anchor  Tavern-Birthplace  of  Governor 

Jonathan  Belcher. 

41.  Ensign-Hicks-Samuel  Whittemore-Watson. 

42.  Patrick-Cane-Prof.  Judah  Monies-Revolutionary  Hospital-Mason. 

43.  Lord-Pelham. 

44.  George  Cooke. 

45.  Gearner-Sherborne-Towne-John  Bradish. 

46.  Arnold-Hosmer. 

47.  Kelsey-Sill. 

48.  Jail. 

49.  Hunt-Revolutionary  Hospital. 

50.  Haynes-Vane-Glover-Kneeland. 

51.  William  Spencer- John  Stedman, 

52.  Pratt-Isaac. 

53.  Greenhill-Prof.  John  and  Hannah  Winthrop-Thatcher. 

54.  Blue  Anchor  Tavern-Bradish's-Porter's. 

55.  Morrill-Skidmore-Stacey-Bean-Warland. 
68.  Brattle  Estate. 


BroLiUe 


College 
Yard 


(}o/fe.  Estate, 


DotteeC  lines  indicate.  moeUrn  sirrettr. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  35 

tions  on  ancient  history,  in  which  she  was  well  informed.  When  her  house  in 
Andover  was  burned,  including  the  unfinished  manuscript  of  her  longest  poem, 
"The  Four  Monarchies,"  she  seemed  discouraged  and  the  work  was  never 
completed. 

Mrs.  Bradstreet  died  of  consumption  in  Andover,  on  September  16,  1672.  It 
is  not  known  whether  she  was  buried  in  Andover  or  in  her  father's  tomb  in 
Roxbury.  Four  years  after  her  death,  Simon  Bradstreet,  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-three, married  Mrs.  Anne  (Downing)  Gardner.  There  were  no  children 
by  this  marriage.  They  lived  in  Boston  at  one  time,  but  in  1695  removed  to 
Salem,  where  he  suddenly  died  on  March  27,  1697,  aged  ninety-four  years, 
and  was  buried  in  the  Charter  Street  Burying  Ground. 

Simon  Bradstreet  lived  in  America  sixty-four  years  and  was  the  last  sur- 
vivor of  the  company  who  came  over  with  Winthrop.  Nearly  all  of  his  life  in 
New  England,  he  occupied  prominent  positions  in  the  government,  holding 
office  as  governor's  assistant,  colonial  secretary,  deputy  governor,  governor, 
royal  councillor,  and  president,  beside  being  sent  as  special  Commissioner  to 
England  upon  matters  pertaining  to  the  colony,  its  charter,  Quaker  troubles, 
etc. 

Naturally,  he  had  part  also  in  settling  the  Indian  troubles  of  that  period. 
The  witchcraft  delusion  and  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the  colony  were 
also  incident  to  his  time.  Among  the  descendants  of  Simon  and  Anne  Brad- 
street are  the  Dana,  Holmes,  Phillips,   Channing,  and   Buckminster  families. 

M.  B.  F. 

This  estate  was  bought  by  Herbert  Pelham  when  he  first  came  to  Cambridge, 
later  it  belonged  to  Aaron  Bordman,  and  has  passed  through  many  hands.  In 
the  nineteenth  century  Deacon  Levi  Farwell  had  his  country  shop  where  the 
house  stood,  and  it  was  known  as  Farwell's  corner. 


STONE-SPARHAWK-GOVE-BUNKER    HOUSE.     (A39.) 

The  next  house  on  the  east  side  of  Boylston  street  was  built  by  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Stone,  who  came  over  with  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  and  settled  here  in 
1633.  He  was  born  in  Hartford,  England,  and  educated  at  Emmanuel  College, 
Cambridge.  "After  solemn  fasting  and  prayer,"  he  was  appointed  "teacher" 
to  the  First  Church  in  this  town  and  remained  here  until  1636,  when  he  went 
with  the  Hooker  colony  to  found  Hartford,  Connecticut.  He  is  called  "the 
pious,  learned,  and  witty  Mr.  Stone,"  and  we  can  well  imagine  that  he  was 
welcome  to  Newtowne.  In  1637,  he  "was  Chaplain,"  Hinman  says,  "to  the 
little  army  of  ninety  brave  men  under  Major  Mason,  *  *  *  who  by  their 
valorous  deeds  exterminated  the  Pequot  Nation  of  Indians."  His  first  wife, 
who  lived  here  with  him,  died  in  1640,  and  he  married  again.  He  died  at  Hart- 
ford, on  July  20,  1663. 

The  house  was  bought  by  Nathaniel   Sparhawk,   who   came  here,  with  his 


36  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

•wife,  Mary  and  son  Nathaniel,  in  1636.  He  was  deacon  of  the  church,  and  dealt 
largely  in  real  estate,  owning  at  one  time  five  houses,  and  at  his  death,  in  1647, 
a  thousand  acres  of  land  situated  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  He  was  "per- 
mitted to  draw  wine  and  strong  water  for  Cambridge  in  1639."  His  first  wife 
died,  and  before  1645,  he  married  Katharine — and  died  in  June,  1647.  She  sur- 
vived him  but  a  week.  His  daughter  Anne  married,  first,  Deacon  John  Cooper 
and  second,  James  Convers,  Sen.,  of  Woburn.  Another  daughter,  Esther,  mar- 
ried Samuel  Adams,  of  Chelmsford.  His  son  Nathaniel,  the  only  one  who  sur- 
vived him,  married  Patience  Newman,  daughter  of  Rev.  Samuel  Newman, 
of  Rehoboth.  Their  daughter  Sybil  was  mother  of  the  first  Professor  Wig- 
glesworth,  another  grandson  was  Nathaniel  Sparhawk  (son  of  Rev.  John 
of  Bristol,  R.  I.),  who  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Pep- 
perell,  and  lived  at  Kittery.  The  second  son  of  this  marriage,  William,  took 
the  name  of  Pepperell,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1766,  was  Mandamus  Coun- 
cillor and  fled  to  England,  where  he  died  in  1816. 

Nathaniel  Sparhawk,  Jr.,  son  of  the  settler,  lived  on  the  south  side  of  the 
river,  and  the  homestead  passed  into  the  hands  of  John  Bunker,  saddler, 
who  married  Rebecca,  the  daughter  of  Benoni  Eaton,  who  bought  it  of  S. 
French  in  1709.  His  shop  was  where  the  court  house  was  built  in  1708,  when 
he  and  Andrew  Bordman  were  given  the  right  to  finish  and  use  the  lower 
story  for  shops.  John  Bunker  died  in  1712,  and  part  of  the  land  went  to  his 
nephew,  Joseph  Sprague.    Later,  there  were  small  shops  here. 

M.  I.  J.  G. 

THE  BLUB  ANCHOR  TAVERN  (A40)— BRADISH'S.  (A54.) 

The  most  famous  public  house  in  Cambridge  was  the  Blue  Anchor  Tavern, 
Bradish's,  or  Porter's,  by  all  of  which  names  the  public  house  that  stood 
on  the  comer  of  Boylston  and  Mount  Auburn  streets,  was  called.  In  early 
times,  many  laws  were  passed  regulating  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors;  and, 
in  1656,  the  general  court  made  towns  liable  to  a  fine  if  they  had  no  "ordi- 
nary" within  their  borders.  Great  inducements  were  offered  to  persons  who 
agreed  to  keep  a  house  of  entertainment.  Sometimes  land  was  granted  to 
them,  or  pasturage  for  their  cattle,  or  they  w'ere  exempted  from  church  rates 
and  school  taxes.  No  one  was  permitted  to  keep  a  common  victualling  house 
without  a  license,  under  penalty  of  twenty  shillings  a  week.  Later,  the  power 
of  granting  licenses  was  transferred  to  the  county  courts. 

The  early  taverns  were  not  opened  wholly  for  the  convenience  of  trav- 
elers. They  were  for  the  comfort  of  the  townspeople,  for  the  interchange  of 
news  and  opinions,  the  sale  of  solacing  drinks  and  sociability.  In  fact, 
they  served  the  place  of  modem  clubs  and  newspapers,  both.  On  December 
27,  1652,  a  license  was  granted  to  Andrew  Belcher  to  sell  beer  and  bread  for 
the  entertainment  of  strangers  and  the  good  of  the  town.  The  first  tavern 
had  been  that  of  Thomas  Chesholme,  on  Dnnster  street,  see  page  50. 
He  became   steward  of  Harvard   College  and  perhaps  did  not  keep  the  public 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  37 

house  longer,  or  it  may  have  been  that  there  was  need  of  more  than  one 
house  in  the  growing  town.  A  license  was  granted  to  Mr.  Nicholas  Dau- 
forth,  selectman,  in  1638.  He  lived  on  Bow  street,  but  died  the  next  year, 
aud  the  license  went  to  Nathaniel  Sparhawk,  who  lived  in  the  house  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Stone,  on  the  east  side  of  Boylston  street.  He  was  deacon  of 
the  church  and  an  extensive  land  owner  and  had  been  dead  five  years  when 
Andrew  Belcher  obtained  the  license.  Belcher  had  married  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Nicholas  Danforth,  who  was  licensed  in  1638.  In  1654,  the  county 
court  granted  Belcher  a  license  to  keep  a  house  of  public  entertainment  and 
probably  soon  after  the  sign  of  the  Blue  Anchor  was  hung  out  in  front  of 
his  house.  'We  do  not  know  where  it  stood.  Andrew  Belcher  was  a  trust- 
worthy man  and  well  connected  by  marriage.  His  son,  Andrew,  Jr.,  was  a 
member  of  the  council  and  his  grandson,  Jonathan,  was  governor  of 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  and  later  of  New  Jersey. 

Thomas  Beale  owned  half  of  the  estate  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Boyl- 
ston and  Mount  Auburn  streets,  in  1635,  and  in  1650  purchased  the  other 
half.  He  died  in  1661  and  in  October,  1671,  his  widow  Sarah  sold  the  estate  to 
Andrew  Belcher,  and  the  sign  of  the  Blue  Anchor  was  hung  out  there.  Mr. 
Belcher,  the  father,  probably  died  in  1673,  for  the  license  was  made  out  in 
his  wife's  name  the  following  year,  and  16S2,  it  was  given  to  Andrew  Belcher, 
Jr.,   whose   famous   son,   Jonathan,    was  born  here. 

The  next  owner  was  Captain  Belcher's  brother-in-law,  Jonathan  Reming- 
ton, who  was  host  from  1682  until  1705,  when  he  sold  out  to  Joseph  Hovey,  who 
did  not  keep  the  tavern  very  long,  for  in  1709  he  sold  to  his  brother,  John 
Hovey,  and  Abiel,  his  wife.  John  died  in  1715,  and  his  widow  had  the  li- 
cense two  years,  when  she  married  Edmund  Angler,  Jr.,  and  they  kept  the  inn 
together  until  his  death.  Then  his  widow  tried  to  manage  it  alone.  The 
second  year  of  her  widowhood  she  married  Isaac  Watson,  who  thus  became 
host.  He  perished  in  the  flames  when  his  house  on  the  easterly  side  of  Mas- 
sachusetts avenue,  near  Dover  street,  was  burned,  in  February,  1741.  Abiel 
survived  him,  and,  not  discouraged  by  her  continual  loss  of  husbands,  carried 
on  the  house  for  about  four  years  when  her  son,  John  Hovey,  took  the 
tavern. 

In  1731,  the  general  court  authorized  the  court  of  sessions  to  grant,  out  of 
the  usual  season,  to  Joseph  Bean,  late  of  Boston,  a  license  "to  keep  a  tavern 
In  Cambridge  in  the  house  of  Mr.  John  Hovey,  which  he  hath  lately  hired, 
and  has  for  many  years  been  used  for  a  house  of  entertainment."  In  1737, 
Mr.  Bean  bought  from  Mr.  Nathaniel  Hancock  an  estate  on  the  westerly 
side  of  Boylston  street  about  midway  between  the  square  and  Mount  Au- 
burn street,  to  which  he  transferred  the  sign  of  the  Blue  Anchor.  There  it 
hung  for  nearly  a  century,  witnessing  great  changes.  In  1749,  Ebenezer 
Bradish  became  the  owner  and  the  tavern  was  generally  called  Bradish's. 
Here   was   coming  and   going  the  night  of  the  eighteenth  of  April,  1775,  when 


38  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

word  was  passed  around  that  the  minute  men  had  been  called  out.  By  this 
sign  rode  Lord  Percy  and  his  men  to  Lexington.  Here  were  anxious  hours 
and  jovial  ones,  too,  while  the  British  were  shut  up  in  Boston  and  red 
coats  gave  place  to  blue  coats  at  the  tables.  Here  was  the  rendezvous  of 
Rufus  Putnam's  regiment.  And  to  this  tavern  came  Generals  Burgoyne  and 
Phillips,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Kingston  and  the  chief  of  the  convention  prison- 
ers in  the  year  of  their  stay  in  town. 

Here,  too,  the  makers  of  the  constitution  must  have  dined  and  slept;  and 
the  list  of  all  the  famous  men  that  Bradish  entertained  would  be  a  long  one. 
He  died  in  1785,  and  his  son  sold  the  house  to  Israel  Porter  in  1796.  Under 
the  new  host,  were  discussed  the  embargo  and  the  second  war  with  Eng- 
land, and  the  tavern  became  the  great  resort  of  the  students.  Lowell,  in  his 
essay,  "Cambridge  Thirty  Years  Ago,"  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  old  land- 
lord, and  many  authors  have  written  of  the  famous  doings  there  on  com- 
mencement days.  Mr.  Porter  died  May  30,  1837,  and  with  him  the  glory  of 
the  old  house  departed.    A  portion  of  it  was  standing  until  a  few  years  ago. 

S.  R.  McK. 

ENSIGN-HICKS-SAMUEL  WHITTEMORE-WATSON  HOUSE.     (A41.) 

James  Ensign,  who  went  to  Hartford  with  the  Hooker  company,  owned  the 
land  on  the  east  side  of  Boylston  street,  between  Mount  Auburn  and  Win- 
throp  streets,  and  probably  built  the  house  there,  which  was  later  bought  by 
Zechariah  Hicks,  who  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Sill,  in  1652.  He 
died  in  1702,  and  the  estate  was  divided  between  his  two  sons,  both  car- 
penters, Zechariah,  Jr.,  and  Joseph.  They  had  married  Ruth  and  Bethia, 
daughters  of  Marshal-General  John  Green,  for  their  first  wives,  and  for 
his  second  Zechariah  married  Seeth,  widow  of  "William  Andrew,  and  Joseph 
married  Rebecca  Palfrey,  daughter  of  John,  the  carpenter,  who  lived  on  the 
east  side  of  the  common.  These  brothers  Hicks  both  lived  to  a  i-ipe  old  age, 
Zechariah,  who  was  ninety-four  years  old  when  he  died,  in  1752,  and  Joseph 
■who  had  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-five  in  1747. 

John  Hicks,  son  of  Zechariah,  and  father  of  the  John  Hicks  who  was  killed 
by  the  British,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775,  followed  the  trade  of  his  father  and 
uncle.  He  married  Rebecca  Champney,  daughter  of  the  ruling  elder.  In  1727, 
he  bought  the  northerly  half  of  the  estate  of  the  heirs,  but  sold,  in  1731,  to 
his  brother-in-law,  Deacon  Samuel  Whittemore,  and  removed  to  Sutton. 
Deacon  Samuel  Whittemore  bought  the  remainder  of  the  homestead  and 
lived  here  during  the  Revolution.  He  kept  shop  for  many  years  in  part  of 
this  house,  and  was  a  very  prominent  man  in  the  community.  He  married 
Margaret  Hicks,  daughter  of  Zechariah  Hicks,  Jr.,  in  1715,  and  after  her 
death,  when  his  children  were  grown  up,  he  married,  for  his  second  wife, 
Hannah  Livermore,  of  Watertown.  He  was  deacon  for  forty  years,  and  owned 
much  land  in  Cambridgeport.  He  died  in  1784.  He  was  a  nephew  of  the  Captain 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  89 

Samuel  Whittemore,  of  Menotomy,  who  was  nearly  killed  by  the  British  on 
April  19,  1775.  His  daughter  Elizabeth  married  Isaac  Watson,  Jr.,  in  1740, 
and,  after  Deacon  "Wliittemore's  death,  their  son  "William  Watson  bought 
the  estate.  He  also  owned  land  in  Cambridgeport.  His  first  wife  was 
Susanna,  daughter  of  Ebenezer  Wyeth,  and  his  second  wife  was  Catherine 
Lopez.  He  died  in  1811,  but  his  widow  lived  until  1851,  so  through  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century  this  was  known  as  the  Watson  House. 

PATRICK-CANE-MONIS  HOUSE,    REVOLUTIONARY   HOSPITAL— 
THADDEUS  MASON.     (A42.) 

The  lot  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Boylston  and  Winthrop  streets  was 
granted  to  Captain  Daniel  Patrick,  who  was  here  as  early  as  May,  1632.  Win- 
throp writes:  "This  Captain  was  entertained  by  us  out  of  Holland  (where 
he  was  a  common  soldier  of  the  Prince's  guard)  to  exercise  our  men.  We 
made  him  a  captain  and  maintained  him  *  *  *  But  he  grew  very  proud 
and  vicious.  *  *  *  His  wife  was  a  good  Dutch  woman  and  comely."  The 
general  court  gave  him  provisions  as  early  as  September  7,  1630,  with  ten 
pounds  of  powdor  and  lead,  to  make  shot,  and  house  room,  besides  money. 
Captain  Patrick  was  captain  of  the  train-band  in  March,  1637,  but  in  Novem- 
ber "the  Court  did  give  way  to  Captain  Patrick's  removal  to  Ipswich,  dis- 
charging him  from  any  further  service,  and  giving  him  a  quarter's  pay  for  a 
gratuity."  He  was  in  Watertown  in  1638,  but  removed  to  Connecticut  and 
was  killed  in  a  quarrel  with  a  Dutchman  about  1643. 

Joseph  Cooke  bought  the  house,  but  probably  did  not  live  here  and  it  was 
soon  the  property  of  Christopher  Cane,  whose  first  home  was  on  Dunster 
street.  He  lived  here  until  his  death  in  1653.  His  daughter,  Rutli  Oane, 
married,  in  1670,  Marmaduke  Johnson,  who  was  sent  out  here,  in  1660,  by  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  New  England,  to  attend  to  the 
printing  of  the  Indian  Bible,  which  was  completed  in  1663.  Mr.  Johnson 
wished  to  marry  the  daughter  of  Ensign  Green,  but  it  was  discovered  that 
he  had  a  wife  in  England,  and  he  was  commanded  to  pay  a  fine  to  Mr.  Green 
for  seeking  to  draw  away  tlie  affections  of  his  daughter,  and  was  ordered  by 
the  court  to  depart  for  England  in  Christopher  Clark's  ship.  But  the 
corporation  in  England  refused  to  permit  this  before  his  work  was  finished, 
and  probably  by  that  time  he  was  able  to  prove  the  death  of  his  English  wife, 
and  he  remained  here  until  1674,  when  he  moved  to  Boston,  and  died  the 
same  year.  Two  years  later  his  widow  died,  leaving  this  house  to  her  mother, 
bi'others  and  sister,  unless  the  son  of  her  husband  should  come  from  England, 
in  which  case  the  house  was  to  go  to  him. 

The  Canes  lived  here  until  1723,  when  Nathaniel  Cane  sold  it  to  Professor 
Judah  Monis.  Professor  Monis  was  a  Jew,  born  in  Italy,  in  February,  1683, 
who  came  to  America  about  1720.  He  publicly  embraced  Christianity  in  1722, 
and   was  made  teacher  of  Hebrew  at   Harvard   the   same  year.    January  13, 


40  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

1724,  he  married  Abigail  Marrett,  daughter  of  Edward  Marrett,  of  Brattle 
street.  In  1722,  he  published  a  book  called  "Truth,  Whole  Truth,  Nothing 
But  the  Truth,"  and  in  1735  a  Hebrew  grammar.  He  taught  until  the 
death  of  bi,s'  wife  in  1761,  when  he  removed  to  Northborough  where  he  lived 
in  the  family  of  Rev.  John  Martyn,  who  had  married  his  wife's  sister.  Here 
Professor  Monis  died  on  April  25,  1764,  aged  eighty-one,  bequeathing  forty-six 
pounds  to  be  divided  among  seven  of  the  neighboring  ministers,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty-six  pounds,  the  interest  of  which  w'as  to  be  given  to 
indigent  widows  of  ministers.    He  had  no  children. 

After  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  the  house  was  used  as  a  hospital,  and  later 
it  sheltered,  for  a  short  time  Baron  von  Riedesel  and  his  family.  February 
11,  1786,  Thaddeus  Mason  bought  this  house  which  he  occupied  after  he 
moved  from  the  Phips  house,  until  his  death  in  1802,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
five  years  and  four  months. 

The  house  stood  directly  on  the  sidewalk.  A  few  steps  led  to  the  fine 
front  door  on  Boylston  street,  a  little  side  door  opened  directly  from  the 
sidewalk  on  Winthrop  street,  and  a  large  garden  occupied  the  rest  of  the  land. 

LORD-PELHAM  ESTATE.     (A43.) 

The  lot  on  the  corner  of  Marsh  Lane  (South  street)  and  Wood  (Boylston) 
street  was  granted  to  Richard  Lord,  who  went  to  Hartford,  where  he  was 
constable,  selectman  and  captain  of  the  first  troop  of  horse  ever  raised  in 
the  colony.  He  removed  to  New  London,  where  he  died.  This  land  was 
bought  by  Herbert  Pclham,  which  extended  his  grounds  through  to  Boylston 
street,  as  he  already  owned  the  lot  on  the  corner  of  Dunster  and  South 
streets. 

ALLEN-COOKE  HOUSE.     (A44.) 

On  the  opposite,  or  west,  side  of  Boylston  street  the  land  between  Long  lane 
(Winthrop  street)  and  Marsh  lane  (Eliot  street)  was  bought  by  George  Cooke 
from  Matthew  Allen.  Cooke  probably  built  his  house  here,  and  lived  here  un- 
til his  return  to  England.  So  much  has  been  written  about  Colonel  George 
Cooke  in  connection  with  his  elder  brother,  Joseph  Cooke,  that  it  suf- 
fices to  say  here,  that  by  his  wife  Alice  he  had  four  children  born  here;  two 
daughters  lived— Elizabeth,  born  in  1644,  who  married  in  England,  Rev.  John 
Quick,  of  London,  and  Mary,  born  in  1646,  after  her  father  left  Cambridge, 
who  was  brought  up  by  her  uncle  Joseph  and  President  Dunster,  and  who 
married  Samuel  Annesley,  Esq.,  of  Westminster.  Both  these  daughters  were 
living  in  1697,  when  they  tried  to  recover  some  of  their  father's  property  by 
Buits  at  law. 

GBARNER-SHERBORNE-TOWNE-JOHN  BRADISH  HOUSE.     (A45.) 

Paige  gives  the  first  owner  of  the  land  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Winthrop 
and  Boylston  streets,  as  Edmund   Gearner,  who  removed  before  1642.     A  small 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  41 

house,  very  ancient  looking,  stood  there  until  quite  lately.  "Whether  it  were 
the  one  in  which  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Sherborne,  the  second  owner  of  the  land, 
lived  is  doubtful.  Mrs.  Sherborne  is  supposed  to  be  the  woman  who  sheltered 
and  concealed  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard  and  his  family  in  London  before  he 
embarked  for  New  England.  Mrs.  Sherborne  died  in  1652,  and  does  not  seem 
to  have  left  any  family. 

The  next  occupant  of  the  house  was  Peter  Towne,  son  of  the  sexton  of  the 
First  Church.  He  was  born  in  England  and  had  two  wives,  Joanna  and 
Elizabeth,  but  no  children.  He  was  a  cooper  and  was  constable  five  years 
between  1688  and  1694,  selectman,  1695.  He  died  in  1705  and  was  an  early 
abolitionist,  for  in  his  will  he  left  the  following  orders,  that  his  three  negro 
slaves  should  become  free,  one  as  soon  as  he  should  recover  from  his 
sickness,  one  in  four  years  and  the  other  in  seven  years,  each  to  receive 
ten  pounds  on  the  day  of  his  freedom;  a  former  slave  received  a  legacy  of  three 
pounds.  His  wife  was  left  a  life  interest  in  his  property,  after  which  it  was 
to  go  to  his  cousins  in  Bridgewater,  with  the  proviso  that  one  of  them,  Joseph 
Howard,  if  he  should  free  his  slave  Stephen,  should  have  twenty  pounds  more 
than  either  of  the  other  legatees;  otherwise  he  was  to  have  no  part  of  the  real 
estate.  It  is  probable  that  he  complied  with  this  provision,  for  the  heirs  of 
Joseph  Howard  sold  the  estate  to  John  Bradish  in  1724. 

WINTHROP  SQUARE. 

What  is  now  Winthrop  square,  was  alloted  to  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  when 
Newtown  was  laid  out.  When  it  was  found  that  he  would  not  return  from 
England,  it  was  assigned  for  a  market-place  for  open-air  traffic,  and  in  1834 
was    named   for   Professor   John   Winthrop.  M.  I.  .1.  G. 

HAYNES-VANE-GLOVER-KNEELAND  HOUSE,  1635-185-.     (A50.) 

Until  a  few  years  ago,  the  interesting  house  built  by  Governor  Haynes  still 
stood  on  its  original  site,  facing  the  western  side  of  Winthrop  square.  It  was 
of  two-and-a-half  stories,  most  substantially  built;  the  writer  well  remembers 
the  immense  oak  beams  which  crossed  the  ceiling,  the  high  wainscotting  of  the 
rooms,  the  good  sized  windows  with  many  small  panes  of  glass  and  the 
enormous  chiinney  in  the  middle  of  the  house,  across  which  was  built  the 
crooked  stairway  with  quaint  spindles  and  banisters.  A  porch,  similar  to  that 
of  the  Lee  house,  on  Brattle  street,  led  to  the  entry,  from  which  doors  opened 
on  either  side  into  the  front  rooms.  Originally,  there  was  but  one  large,  square 
room  on  each  side  of  the  front  door.  A  lean-to  at  the  back,  running  the  length 
of  the  house,  gave  a  narrow  room  back  of  the  front  room 
on  two  stories;  later,  an  extension  was  built  on  the  south - 
em  end,  prolonging  the  front  of  the  house,  with  a  small  door  facing  the 
square.    In   each   large  room   on   the  first   and    second    floors    of   the   original 


42  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

house,  there  were  two  large  windows  on  the  front,  and  one  at  each  end,  facing 
north  and  south,  the  north  one  looking  on  Mount  Auburn  street.  Tall  lilac 
bushes  grew  on  each  side  of  the  porch  and  quite  filled  the  little  front  yard,  for 
the  house  stood  almost  upon  the  road.  A  huge  horse  chestnut  tree  occupied 
the  more  spacious  yard  on  the  Mount  Auburn  street  end.  In  the  rear  was  a 
large  enclosure,   probably  once  a  good  garden. 

The  appearance  of  the  house,  even  in  its  last  and  saddest  estate,  was  not 
wanting  in  dignity;  and,  in  the  early  days,  when  it  stood  alone  in  its 
yovmg  strength  and  comeliness,  with  the  fresh,  virgin  country  about  it,  with 
the  peaceful  river  in  view,  and  the  town  spring  but  a  stone's  throw  away, 
and  all  the  surroundings  fair,  it  must  have  seemed  a  fitting  dwelling  for  its 
owner,  the  honored  governor. 

John  Haynes,  governor  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  was  a  native  of 
Essex,  England,  and  came  to  New  England,  in  company  with  Hooker,  in  1633. 
He  was  chosen  an  assistant,  and,  in  1635,  governor  of  Massachusetts  colony. 
The  following  year.  Sir  Harry  Vane  succeeded  him,  and  Haynes  removed  to 
Connecticut,  of  which  colony  he  was  one  of  the  principal  founders;  and,  in 
1639,  became  its  first  governor,  a  position  he  occupied  every  second  year, 
which  was  as  often  as  the  constitution  allowed,  until  his  death,  in  1654. 
Governor  Haynes  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  piety  and  public  spirit,  in- 
ferior in  no  way  to  Winthrop;  and  his  removal  to  Connecticut  was  a  dis- 
tinct loss  to  Massachusetts  Colony.  He  married  for  his  second  wife  Mabel, 
sister  of  Roger  Harlakenden. 

After  the  departure  of  Governor  Haynes,  this  house  was  occupied  by  Sir 
Harry  Vane,  and  something  of  the  glamor  of  romance  which  always  sur- 
rounds the  memory  of  the  handsome,  gallant  young  governor — he  was  but 
twenty-four  years  of  age  when  Massachusetts  made  him  her  first  magistrate 
— lingered  long  about  the  house. 

And  now,  the  page  is  turned  and  a  new  chapter  opened,  not  only  in  the 
story  of  the  old  house,  but  in  the  history  of  the  New  England  colonies. 
Hitherto,  there  had  been  no  printing  press  in  New  England,  nor  in  the  then 
British  colonies.  Many  of  the  ministers  and  principal  men  had  become  most 
anxious  for  the  means  of  spreading  religious  knowledge  and  learning.  The 
school  at  New  Town  had  become  Harvard  College,  but  there  was  no  means 
of  publishing  books,  laws  or  official  documents;  a  printing  press  was  a  cry- 
ing need,  and  this  was  now  to  be  supplied.  The  Rev.  Josse  Glover  was  rec- 
tor of  Sutton,  in  the  Hundred  of  Wallington,  formerly  Croydon,  in  Surrey, 
England,  when,  in  1628,  he  lost  his  fii-st  wife,  Sarah,  mother  of  his  three 
elder  children.  Her  memorial  tablet  may  still  be  seen  in  this  village  church. 
Mr.  Glover  became  interested  in  the  non-conformists  and  preached  accept- 
ably to  them  in  London;  whether  he  entirely  severed  his  connection  with  the 
established  church  or  was  forced  to  resign    his    rectorship    is    but    a    matter 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  4,3 

of  conjecture.  He  had  invested  funds  in  New  England  and  had  "lands, 
chattels  and  goods  here  and  an  estate  in  Old  England."  The  former  prob- 
ably included  "the  windmill  at  Lynn  and  the  house  and  garden  in  Boston," 
sold  to  Theodore  Atkinson,  in  1645.  In  1638,  he  procured  in  England  a  font 
of  types,  a  printing  press,  with  a  large  stock  of  paper,  and  engaged  one 
Stephen  Daye,  a  locksmith,  to  work  for  him  for  three  years.  It  is  supposed 
that  Mr.  Glover,  with  his  second  wife  (who  was  Elizabeth  Harris),  children 
and  servants  and  the  precious  printing  press,  embarked  with  Daye  in  the 
"John  of  London,"  but,  dying  on  the  passage,  never  reached  New  England. 

Mrs.  Glover  settled  in  Cambridge  in  1639,  buying  the  house  and  estate  of 
Governor  Haynes.  John  Stedman,  who  accompanied  the  Glovers  to  New 
England  and  managed  Mrs.  Glover's  commercial  business  for  her  until  her 
second  marriage,  and  was  afterwards  a  merchant  on  his  own  account,  lived 
opposite  to  her,  on  the  northerly  side  of  Mount  Auburn  street.  Mr.  Glover 
bequeathed  the  font  of  types  .to  Harvard  College  and  later  his  wife  added 
ten  pounds  to  the  gift.  It  is  cheering:  to  know  that  the  widow  and  children, 
so  suddenly  bereft,  found  so  soon  a  pleasant  and  substantial  dwelling  in 
which  to  make  a  new  home  in  the  new  country.  Here  they  lived  until  Mrs. 
Glover's  marriage,  June  21,  1641,  to  Henry  Dunster,  the  first  president  of 
Harvard  College,  the  latter  taking  under  his  care  the  Glover  children  as 
well  as  the  printing  establishment,  which  he  carried  on  with  the  advice  of 
the   college. 

Richard  Harris,  Mrs.  Glover's  brother,  who  came  to  New  England  with 
the  Glovers,  or  soon  afterwards,  was  associated  with  Dunster,  as  a  tutor  or 
master,  "in  the  business  of  instruction"  in  Harvard  College — one  of  its  first 
tutors,  between  1640  and  1644.  The  oldest  piece  of  silver  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  college,  known  as  "The  Great  Salt,"  was  the  gift  of  Richard  Harris 
and  was  once  the  property  of  Elizabeth  and  Josse  Glover,  his  sister  and 
brother-in-law,  whose  initials  it  bears.  Another  member  of  this  family, 
George  Glover,  a  nephew  of  the  rector,  was  also  an  early  benefactor  of  the 
college.  Elizabeth  Glover  survived  her  marriage  to  President  Dunster  but 
little  more  than  two  years,  dying  in  August,   1643. 

The  children  of  Rev.  Josse  Glover,  who  lived  in  the  Haynes  house,  were 
five  in  number— Roger,  Elizabeth,  Sarah,  John  and  Priscilla.  Roger,  the 
eldest,  heir  to  his  father's  English  estates,  returned  to  England  and  was 
slain  at  the  siege  of  Edinborough  Castle;  Elizabeth  married  Adam  Winthrop, 
and  Sarah,  Deane  Winthrop,  both  sons  of  the  governor.  John  received  the 
education  of  Harvard  College,  under  the  care  of  his  step-father.  President 
Dunster,  and  his  uncle,  Richard  Harris,  then  studied  medicine  and  surgery 
in  Scotland  and  went  to  live  in  England.  Priscilla,  the  youngest  of  the 
family,  married  Captain  John  Appleton,  of  Ipswich,  and  her  grand-daughter, 
Priscilla  (Capen)  Thomas,  married,  for  her  second  husband,  Deacon  Nathan 
Peabody,  of  Boxford. 


44  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

Dr.  William  Kneeland  bought  this  house  of  William  Winter,  November  9, 
1763,  and  in  1769  bought,  from  the  Proprietors,  an  adjoining  piece  of  land  "in 
the  form  of  a  gnomon"  that  -was  "the  prisoner's  yard  and  for  the  use  of  the 
prison-keeper."  Dr.  Kneeland  was  son  of  Solomon  and  Lydia  (Richardson) 
Kneeland,  born  1732,  H.  C.  1751.  He  married  Elizabeth  Holyoke,  daughter  of 
Edward  A.  and  grand-daughter  of  President  Holyoke.  He  died  November  2, 
1788,  leaving  a  daughter,  Mary,  who  married  Levi  Hedge.  The  committee  of 
Safety,  May  15,  1775,  ordered  the  quartermaster-general  "to  remove  as  many 
of  the  three  companies  now  at  Mr.  Borland's,  to  the  house  of  Dr.  Kneeland, 
as  this  house  can  accomm.odate." 

Of  the  various  owners  of  the  Haynes  house,  after  the  Revolution,  the  writer 
has,  at  present,  little  accurate  knowledge,  but  it  must  have  long  preserved 
its  original  dimensions  and  its  distinction.  In  the  fifties  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  many  Cambridge  children  began  their  education  within  a  room  in 
the  north  end,  under  the  care  of  Miss  Sessions,  who  for  some  years  kept  a 
small  private  school  there.  At  that  time,  though  still  eminently  respectable, 
the  building  showed  the  shabbiness  and  decrepitude  of  neglected  old  age, 
and,  from  year  to  year,  it  was  to  fall  still  farther  into  decay,  until  the  in- 
evitable end  came.  A  modern  house,  facing  on  Mount  Auburn  street,  now 
occupies  part  of  the  site  of  the  historic  house,  whose  claims  to  remembrance 
are  all  but  forgotten. 

A  memorial  tablet  marks  the  house  of  the  first  printer  and  honors  the 
name  of  Stephen  Daye,  but,  so  far  as  is  known,  there  is  within  the  length  and 
breadth  of  Massachusetts  no  memorial  to  Rev.  Josse  Glover,  the  cultured 
man  whose  enterprise  provided  the  press,  presented  the  font  of  types  to  the 
college  and  paid  the  passage  to  New  England  of  Daye  and  his  three  jour- 
neymen. E,  H. 

SPENCER— DICKSON— HUNT— HOSPITAL.     (A  49.) 

As  early  as  1633  Thomas  Spencer  resided  in  a  house  on  the  easterly  side  of 
Eliot  street,  the  estate  extending  from  Mount  Auburn  to  Winthrop  streets,  and 
■was  next  to  the  Kneeland  house.  Thomas  Spencer  removed  to  Hartford,  and 
the  estate  was  sold  to  Edmund  Angier.  William  Dickson  owned  it  in  1642. 
It  was  owned,  or  occupied,  by  John  Hunt,  when  on  June  20.  1775,  the  Provincial 
Congress  "resolved  that  the  house  of  Mr,  Hunt,  at  Cambridge,  be  hired  for  a 
hospital." 

GREENHILL-PROFESSOR  JOHN  AND  HANNAH  WINTHROP- 
THATCHER  HOUSE.     (A53.) 

The  first  owner  of  this  land  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Mount  Auburn  and 
Boylston  streets,  was  Samuel  Greenhill,  who  went  with  the  Hooker  colony  to 
Connecticut  and  died  early;  after  which  there  were  many  owners,  but  none  of 
prominence  lived  here  until  It  became  the  home  of  John  Winthrop. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  45 

The  house  still  stands,  but  altered  past  all  recognition,  as  in  its  present 
condition  it  bears  no  likeness  to  the  modest,  dignified  dwelling  of  the  past. 
Until  recently,  the  house  faced  Winthrop  square  (or  the  market  place,  as  it 
was  called  until  1834),  having  a  beautiful  doorway  in  the  middle  of  the  front, 
with  windows  on  either  side;  (there  was  a  plain  side  door  on  Boylston  street.) 
When  Boylston  street  was  widened  on  its  west  side,  a  few  years  ago,  this 
house  was  turned  round  to  face  that  street;  the  portico,  and  old  front  door 
removed,  and  an  inferior  extension  added,  running  toward  Harvard  square, 
doubling  the  length  of  the  old  house,  and  lo!  the  transformation  was  com- 
plete! In  the  Wiuthrops'  time  there  was  quite  a  garden  at  the  west  side  and 
rear  of  the  dwelling,  judging  from  Professor  "Winthrop's  mention  of  the  trees 
which  he  planted,  as  well  as  his  vegetables  and  Madam's  flowers;  no  doubt 
there  were  flourishing  currant  bushes  also,  furnishing  fruit  for  the  goodly 
store   of   currant   wine   which   helped   stock   the   wine   cellar. 

Probably  no  house  in  Cambridge  in  colonial  times,  received  under  its 
roof  more  distinguished  people  than  this  house  of  Professor  "Winthrop. 
In  reading  the  latter's  abbreviated  diary,  one  wonders  when  he  ever  had  time 
for  the  study  and  research  for  which  he  is  noted.  Hospitality  was  the  law  of 
life,  apparently,  and  dinners,  "Ts"  and  "Coffees"  crowded  upon  one  another  in 
endless  succession.  All  the  scientific  and  cultivated  people  of  the  day  were 
frequent  guests,  as  also  the  leaders  of  public  affairs.  Here  came  frequently 
both  the  Warrens,  John  Adams,  Hancock  and  many  others.  The  diary  entry 
of  September  28,  1778,  records:  "Count  d'Estaing,  Marquis  Fayette,  Mrs.  War- 
ren and  son  to  dinner,"  while  that  of  September  5,  says  the  writer  "dined 
at  Hancock's  house  with  French  officers."  College  duties,  scientific  experi- 
ments, social  entertainments,  made  a  busy  life,  varied  not  infrequently  by 
journeys  hither  and  thither,  on  college  or  public  affairs;  the  activity  w^as  in- 
deed interrupted  occasionally,  for  Dr.  Winthrop  was  a  delicate  man  physi- 
cally, and  over-exertion  was  sometimes  followed  by  days  of  illness  and  suf- 
fering; a  ride  with  his  wife  being  the  first  step  of  convalescence,  would  soon 
be  followed  by  a  return  to  the  usual  energetic  routine.  A  direct  descendant 
of  Governor  John  Winthrop  (Adam  4,  Adam  3,  Adam  2,  Johnl)  Professor  Winthrop 
was  born  in  Boston  on  December  19,  1714,  graduated  H.  C.  1732,  and  received 
the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from  the  University  of  Edinburg  in  recognition  of  his 
scientific  attainments.  He  was  the  first  person  to  make  scientific  investiga- 
tions as  to  the  cause  of  earthquakes.  In  1761,  he  went  to  Newfoundland  to  ob- 
serve the  transit  of  Venus  over  the  sun's  disc,  and  his  observations  upon  it 
were  published.  He  also  published  observations  upon  another  transit  of  the 
same  planet  In  1769,  and  upon  the  transit  of  Mercury  In  1740.  Appointed  Hollis 
professor  of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy  (H.  C.)  in  1738,  he  retained 
that  position  until  his  death.  May  3,  1779,  and  had  the  reputation  of  being 
the  greatest  mathematician  and  philosopher  in  this  century,  as  also  a  fine  clas- 


46  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

sical  scholar,  and  well  versed  in  general  literature,  biblical  criticism,  contro- 
versial theology,  and  politics.  He  was  a  fellow  of  the  college,  1765-1779,  and 
during  his  connection  with  Harvard,  a  period  of  more  than  forty  years,  occu- 
pied a  position  of  influence  in  the  institution.  The  presidency  was  offered  to 
him  when  President  Locke  resigned,  but  he  refused  it,  a.nd  Dr.  Langdon  was 
then  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Dr.  Winthrop  was  one  of  the  fellows  of 
Harvard  College,  who  with  the  president  had  the  pleasure  of  conferring  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  upon  General  "Washington,  in  1776.  Always  deeply  interested 
in  public  affairs,  he  was  representative  in  1774,  councillor,  1773,  1775,  1776,  and 
judge  of  probate,  from  September  6,  1775,  until  his  death.  That  he  was  not 
an  accepted  councillor  to  the  governor  in  1774,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  of  the 
twenty  councillors  elected  by  the  general  court  in  May  of  that  year.  General 
Gage  rejected  thirteen,  who  were  known  to  him  as  advocates  of  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  people — prominent  among  these  was  Professor  John  Winthrop, 
of  Cambridge.  Very  far  from  being  a  fire-brand,  he  was  well  trusted  to 
stand  by  his  honest  convictions;  gifted  with  great  discretion,  prudent  in 
action,  wise  in  counsel,  he  was  a  most  valuable  ally  in  the  patriot  cause,  and 
to  it  he  gave  generously  of  his  best. 

The  first  wife  of  Professor  Winthrop,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1746,  was 
Rebecca  Townsend,  daughter  of  James  and  Elizabeth  (Phillips)  Townsend; 
she  died  on  August  29,  1753,  leaving  four  sons,  John,  Adam,  James  and 
William,  all  of  whom  in  due  time  became  graduates  of  Harvard  College. 
The  two  youngest,  James  and  William,  lived  most  of  their  lives  in  Cambridge; 
James  (H.  C.  1767)  was  appointed  by  the  provincial  congress,  in  1775,  post- 
master of  Cambridge;  in  September  of  that  year  he  was  made  register  of 
probate,  and  retained  that  office  until  1817.  During  several  years  he  was 
judge  of  common  pleas,  and  librarian  of  Harvard  College,  1772-1787.  Judge 
Winthrop  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  and  also  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  and  died  September 
26,  1821,  aged  69  years. 

William  ("Squire  Winthrop")  outlived  his  brother,  and  died  in  his  Arrow 
street  residence,  on  February  5,  1825,  leaving  the  reputation  of  having  been 
a  good  and  useful  citizen;  he  had  served  the  public  as  town  clerk,  selectman 
and  senator. 

Three  years  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Professor  John  Winthrop  mar- 
ried Hannah  Fayerweather  Tolman,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Hannah  (Waldo) 
Fayerweather,  of  Boston,  and  widow  of  Farr  Tolman.  This  stately  and  aris- 
tocratic lady  was  a  good  mother  to  her  stepchildren,  to  her  husband  a  devoted 
"wife.  Endowed  with  a  fine  mind  and  intellectual  tastes,  she  sympathized  with 
his  pursuits  and  at  times  acted  as  assistant  in  his  astronomical  work.  Bring- 
ing into  both  intellectual  and  social  life  a  vivacity  which  must  have  been 
Inspiring,  she  carried  with  it  sound  sense  and  a  good  heart.    To  her  eloquent 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  47 

pen  we  owe  many  a  picture  of  life  before  and  during;  the  Revolutionary  War; 
with  her  Hfe-lcng  friend,  Mrs.  James  Warren,  of  Plymouth,  she  maintained 
a  correspondence  of  many  years.  Mrs.  John  Adams  was  a  third  in  this  di- 
version and  the  three  acquaintances,  under  the  assumed  names  of  Philomela, 
Honora  and  Portia  amused  themselves  with  exchanging  epistolary  ebullitions 
even  when  their  lives  were  shadowed  by  great  anxieties.  Madam  Winthrop 
was  an  ardent  patriot;  in  this,  she  and  her  husband  were  as  one;  records 
show  that  she  proved  her  sincerity  in  a  substantial  manner.  The  discretion 
of  the  husband  doubtless  held  in  check  the  outspoken,  imprudent  utterances 
of  the  spirited  wife,  for  Dr.  Winthrop  had  a  rare  wisdom  in  these  matters,  but 
they  were  both  true  to  the  cause.  Their  devoted  life  together  in  the  Winthrop 
square  house,  was  broken  by  the  death  of  Professor  Winthrop,  May  3,  1779. 

Madam  Winthrop  lived  until  the  May  of  1790,  and  the  old  home  knew  them 
no  more. 

Professor  Winthrop's  diary,  remarkable  for  what  it  does  not  tell,  contains 
many  interesting  items.  Perhaps  it  may  interest  readers  to  know  that  on 
June  3,  1744,  "i/i  after  10  A.  M.  a  earthquake  wh  shook  ye  houses  and  much 
surprised  ye  people  in  the  meetinghouse  occasioned  great  numbers  of  ym  to 
get  out  in  speed.  Ye  night  following  y  were  3  or  4  rumbles  of  earthquakes." 
January  29,  1759:  "Electrical  disturbances — bells  ring."'  February  2:  "Consider- 
able earthquake  was  preceded  and  attended  by  y  usual  roar  which  waked  more 
people,  I  heard  it  very  distinctly  and  I  perceived  the  house  to  crack  and  y 
bed  in  our  house  shook.  I  believe  it  lasted  %  minute.  T  night  was  calm, 
Clare,  warm  and  moderately  rainy — ye  rain  coming  in  light  showers."  May,  of 
the  same  year,  1759:  "Greatest  number  of  bears  came  down  that  was  ever 
known.  Some  killed  at  Brookline,  Cambridge,  and  other  places  within  2  or 
3  miles  of  Boston."  June  15,  1775:  "Cambridge  P.  M.  Began  to  pack  ap- 
paratus." June  16:  "All  day  packing  apparatus  and  Library"  (to  be  carried 
to  Andover  for  safety).    June  17:  "Charlestown  Burnt,  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill." 

In  this  battle  James  Winthrop  participated,  and  was  brought  home  wounded. 
Colonel  Samuel  Thatcher  lived  here  during  the  latter  years  of  his  life. 
He  died  in  1786.    For  account  of  Colonel  Thatcher  see  p.  120.  E.  H. 

MORRILL-SKIDMORE-STACET-BEAN  HOUSE.     (A55.) 

Abraham  Morrill  was  the  first  owner  of  the  land.  He  lived  here  in  1635. 
Before  1650  he  removed  to  Salisbury  and  died  about  1662.  The  triangular  lot 
between  Boylston  street  and  Brattle  square  belonged  to  Thomas  Skidmore  in 
1642.  His  son  John  was  born  here  in  1643.  His  stay  in  Cambridge  was  short, 
for  he  removed  to  Hartford  and  died  there  in  1649. 

Thomas  Stacey,  blacksmith,  who  married  Hannah  Hicks  in  1683,  lived  here. 
He  was  father  of  Rev.  Joseph  Stacey,  of  Kingston,  H.  C.  1719.  Susanna,  the 
daughter  of  Thomas  Stacey,  Jr.,  married  Cutting  Bean,  and  their  son  Thomas 


48  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

sold  their  share  of  the  homestead  to  Joseph  Beau.     Part  of  the  estate  was  sold 
in  1758  to  John  Warland. 


DUNSTER  STREET  AND  ITS  EARLY  HOUSES. 
DUDLEY-HARLACKENDEN-PELHAM  HOUSE,  1631.     (Al.) 

The  earliest  house  built  in  Cambridge  Village  was  that  of  the  Governor;  see 
page  2.  Governor  Dudley's  house  continued  to  be  a  social  and  political  centre, 
even  after  he  left  Cambridge.  The  next  inmate  was  Roger  Harlackenden,  the  in- 
timate friend  of  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  who  sailed  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shepard 
in  "The  Defense,"  landing  in  Boston  on  October  3,  1635.  Soon  after  Mr.  Shep- 
ard graduated  at  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  England,  he  took  orders  in  the 
English  Established  Church,  and,  for  more  than  three  years,  was  lecturer  at 
Earls-Colne,  Essex,  the  home  of  the  Harlackenden  family,  who  traced  their 
lineage  back  to  "William  Harlackenden,  who  died  in  Wood  Church,  Kent,  in 
1081.  Richard  and  Roger  Harlackenden  became  the  fast  friends  of  the  young 
lecturer  and  stood  by  him  in  all  his  troubles.  Shepard  said:  "They  were  so 
many  fathers  and  mothers  to  me."  Roger  lost  his  wife,  Emlen,  August  18, 
1634,  and  he  seems,  after  that,  to  have  joined  the  Shepards  in 
their  hiding  place  in  Norfolk,  where  he  paid  all  expenses 
of  housekeeping,  and,  in  the  spring  of  1635,  went  to  London  with 
them.  We  do  not  know  where  he  met  his  second  wife,  but  he  married  her 
on  June  4,  of  that  year.  She  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Godfrey  Bosville, 
Esq.,  and,  on  August  10,  the  newly  married  couple  set  out  on  the  perilous 
voyage  to  New  England,  taking  with  them'  Roger's  sister,  Mabel,  who,  later, 
married  Governor  John  Haynes.  Roger  was  then  twenty-five  years  old; 
probably  the  ladies  were  younger. 

The  newcomer  seems  to  have  taken  the  greatest  interest  in  the  new  town. 
Roger  Harlackenden  attended  the  first  town  meeting,  after  his  arrival,  No- 
vember 23,  and  was  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  those  then  "chosen  to  order 
bussines  of  the  whole  Towne  for  the  year  following."  The  next  year,  he 
was  chosen  assistant.  Many  grants  of  land  to  him  are  recorded  and,  at  one 
time,  he  owned  three  houses  in  the  town.  When  a  regiment  was  formed 
from  the  men  of  the  towns  of  Cambridge,  Charlestown,  Watertown,  Con- 
cord and  Dedhami,  with  Governor  Haynes  as  colonel,  he  was  chosen  lieuten- 
ant-colonel. Winthrop  writes:  "He  was  a  very  Godly  man  and  of  good  use, 
both  in  the  Commonwealth  and  in  the  Church." 

Two  little  daughters  were  born  in  the  Dudley  house,  and,  when  Elizabeth 
was  not  quite  two  years  old  and  Margaret  only  two  months,  the  father  sick- 
ened of  the  dread  small-pox  and  died,  November  17,  1638,  aged  twenty-seven. 
His  death  occasioned  public  lamentation;  he  was  buried  with  military  honors 
in  the  old  burying  ground.  The  minister,  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  was  incon- 
solable  and   called   him   "My   most  dear  friend,   and  most  precious  servant  of 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  49 

Jesus  Christ."  Soon  after  this  event,  another  friend  of  Rev.  Mr.  Shepard 
came  to  Cambridge  with  his  family.  This  was  Herbert  Pelham-,  grandson 
Df  Lord  Delaware,  on  his  mother's  side,  and  a  near  relative  of  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle,  on  his  father's  side.  He  was  born  in  1601  and  lived  in  Lincoln- 
shire, England,  and  was  the  firm  friend  of  the  colony,  giving  of  his  influence, 
advice  and  money  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  He  was  a  widower  with 
three  children — Waldegrave,  about  eleven  years  old;  Penelope,  seven;  and 
Nathaniel,  six.  Their  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas,  and  grand- 
daughter of  Sir  William  Waldegrave, 

It  was  not  long  before  the  widow  of  Roger  Harlackenden  became  the  wife 
of  Herbert  Pelham.  Mr.  Harlackenden  had  left  in  his  will  twenty  pounds  to 
the  church,  and  Mr.  Pelham  paid  it,  by  giving  them  a  milch  cow,  in  the  spring 
of  1640.  He  was  then  probably  married.  The  old  governor's  house  was  now 
full  of  children,  five  to  begin  with,  from  the  two  families;  and  now  eight 
more,  five  daughters  and  three  boys— Herbert,  who  died  a  baby,  in  January, 
1646,  and  Edward  and  Henry.  Herbert  Pelham's  sister  Penelope  married 
Governor  Bellingham,  and  another  sister  lived  to  be  eighty-three  and  died 
unmarried,  at  Marshfield.  Doubtless  the  Bellinghams  were  frequent  visitors 
here,  and  much  of  the  public  business  must  have  been  transacted  in  the 
Dudley  house.  Herbert  Pelham  was  made  selectman,  in  1645;  assistant,  in 
1645-'49;  commissioner  of  the  United  Colonies,  in  1645-'46;  and  was  intrusted 
by  the  General  Court  with,  much  important  business.  Roger  Harlackenden 
had  been  appointed  by  the  General  Court  on  the  committee  to  have  charge 
of  the  affairs  of  the  college  with  Governors  Winthrop,  Dudley  and  Belling'- 
ham,  November  20,  1637;  and  now,  December  27,  1643,  Herbert  Pelham  became 
first  treasurer  of  the  college.  (His  son  Nathaniel  graduated  in  1651  and  Ed- 
ward in  1673.)  He  was  also  interested  in  Eliot's  work  among  the  Indians  and 
was  the  second  person  named  in  the  act  incorporating  the  "Society  for  Propo- 
gating  of  the   Gospel   among   the   Indians." 

But,  alas!  Cambridge  was  soon  to  lose  this  important  man.  In  1649,  he 
returned  to  England,  where  he  became  a  member  of  parliament  and  rendered 
frequent  service  to  the  colonies.  He  was  burled,  July  1,  1673,  at  Bury  St. 
Mary,  Suffolk.  Of  his  children,  Waldegrave  inherited  his  English  estates; 
Penelope  married  Governor  Josiah  Winslow  and  died  at  Marshfield,  Decem- 
ber 7,  1703;  Nathaniel  was  lost  at  sea,  on  his  way  to  England,  in  1657;  Ed- 
ward remained  in  New  England  and  was  heir  to  the  property  here.  It  was 
left  in  trust  to  his  brother-in-law.  Governor  Josiah  Winslow,  and  he  was 
only  to  have  it  if  he  should  "so  behave  and  demean  himself  that  he  can 
procure  either  the  hands  of  the  Governor  and  four  of  the  Assistants  of  the 
Colony  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  or  of  New  Plymouth  Government,  that  he 
is  now  grown  serious,  sober  and  solid  and  follows  his  study,  and  avoids  all 
idle  and  profane  company,   and  that  they    verily    conceive    there    is    a    real 


50  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

change  in  him  for  the  better,  and  not  only  to  attain  his  ends  thereby."  Only 
one  of  his  college  pranks  has  come  down  to  us,  and  that,  in  the  court  rec- 
ords, gives  such  a  vivid  picture  that  it  is  inserted  here  in  the  quaint  language 
of  the  deposition:  "Urian  Oakes,  aged  14  years  and  upwards,  do  testifle  that 
about  10  days  since  he  and  Percifall  Greene,  being  gathering  up  fruite  in  the 
Marshal's  [Greene]  orchard;  Mr.  Edward  Pelham  came  to  them  with  a 
fowling  peece  in  his  hand  and  desired  him  to  shoot  a  foule  of  Goodman  Far- 
lengs,  and,  when  he  was  disapoynted  there  he  brought  him  to  ye  fence  be- 
tween ye  Marshal's  yard  and  Captain  Gookin's,  where  sat  a  turkie,  and  de- 
sired him  to  shoot  yt,  wch  he  accordingly  did,  and  ye  fowle  being  killed  ye 
sd  Pelham  took  ye  coate  of  ye  sd  Urian  and  wrapt  up  the  turkie  in  it,  and 
sent  it  by  Percifal  Greene  to  Samuel  Gibson's  and  bid  him  leave  it  at  ye 
said  Gibson's  house."  "Samuel  Gibson  being  examined  do  confess  yt  about 
10  days  since  Percifal  Greene  came  to  his  house  and  brought  a  turkie  wrapt 
up  in  a  coate  and  left  it  there,  and  was  dressed  by  his  wife  and  baked  in 
the  oven,  and,  in  the  night  following,  it  was  eaten  by  Mr.  Pelham,  John  Wise 
and  Russell,  studts."  This  was  in  1672.  In  spite  of  this  deed,  Edward  Pel- 
ham seems  to  have  "grown  serious,"  for  he  inherited  the  property  and  is  said 
to  have  married  two  daughters  of  Governor  Benedict  Arnold,  of  Newport, 
R.  I.,  Godsgift  and  Freelove  Arnold.  He  had  two  sons,  Edward  and  Thomas, 
to  whom  he  left  his  Cambridge  lands. 

The  Dudley  house,  the  first  house  built  in  Cambridge,  which  was  so  identi- 
fied with  the  early  history  of  the  town,  never  passed  into  unworthy  hands. 
It  was  burned  in  1666,  while  still  the  property  of  Herbert  Pelham's  son,  Ed- 
ward, as  is  related  in  the  deed  of  February  27,  1691,  by  which  Edward  Pel- 
ham made  over  the  land  on  which  it  once  stood  to  Aaron  Bordman. 

THE  FIRST  TAVERN.     (A2.) 

The  land  between  the  Dudley  house  and  the  first  meeting  house  was  owned 
by  Matthew  Allen,  who  built  the  house  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Long  (Win- 
throp)  street  and  Water  (Dunster)  street.  He  was  deputy  to  the  general 
court,  but  went  with  Rev.  Mr.  Hooker  to  Connecticut,  where  he  held  many 
offices  in  the  governmiCnt.  The  house,  which  was  probably  well  built  and 
commodious,  became  the  property  of  Deacon  Thomas  Chesholme,  a  tailor,  who 
came  over  in  Shepard's  company.  He  became  the  first  steward  of  Harvard 
Codlege.  In  1636,  he  was  licensed  by  the  General  Court  to  "keep  a  house  of 
entertainment,"  so,  as  Paige  says,  "the  first  tavern  was  next  to  the  first 
meeting  house  and  the  first  inn-keeper  was  deacon  of  the  church." 

Thomas  Chesholme  was  a  man  greatly  respected.  He  died  in  1671.  He  had 
no  children,  but  brought  up  in  his  family  Benonl  Eaton,  the  church  providing 
his  clothes.  He  was  the  son  of  Nathaniel  Eaton,  brother  of  Governor  The- 
ophilus   Eaton,   who   was   the   first  teacher  of  the   college.    He   and   his   wife 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  51 

were  accused  of  avarice,  starving  the  students,  and  of  cruelty,  Mather,  writ- 
ing of  him,  says:  "A  society  of  scholars  was  forming  under  the  conduct  of  one 
Mr.  Nathaniel  Baton,  a  blade  who  marvellously  deceived  the  expectations  of 
good  men  concerning  him,  for  he  was  fitter  to  be  a  master  of  Bridewell 
than  a  College."  He  was  said  to  be  a  rare  scholar,  but  the  General  Court 
fined  him  and  discharged  him  from  office.  He  fled  to  Virginia  and,  while 
there,  sent  for  his  wife  and  children.  She  went,  taking  the  family  with  her, 
except  Benoni,  and  all  were  lost  at  sea.  Master  Eaton  died  in  England  in 
a  debtor's  prison. 

But,  to  return  to  the  old  tavern,  after  the  death  of  good  Deacon  Ches- 
holme,  it  was  sold  to  Isaac  Daye,  "heretofore  citizen  and  embroiderer  of  Lon- 
don." His  widow,  Susanna,  probably  the  daughter  of  Robert  Meriam,  of 
Concord,  sold  it,  in  1692,  to  Richard  Proctor,  of  Boston.  In  1706,  when  Nicholas 
Fessenden,  Jr.  (H.  C.  1701),  married  Sarah,  widow  of  Stephen  Coolidge,  and 
daughter  of  Captain  Josiah  Parker,  he  bought  this  house  and  lived  in  it. 
He  was  register  of  probate,  1704-1709,  and  master  of  the  grammar  school  for 
eighteen  years.  He  died  suddenly,  October  5,  1719,  and  his  widow  and  chil- 
dren sold  the  house,  in  1737,  to  Edward  Tyng.  It  was  long  the  residence  of 
Thaddeus  William  Harris,  librarian  of  Harvard  College,  and  was  burnt  in 
1839.  The  doorstep  of  the  old  inn  is  still  in  existence,  property  of  the  Mis- 
ses Harris. 

CUTTER-EATON  HOUSE.    (A3.) 

When  Benoni  Eaton  grew  up,  he  was  a  malster  and  mar- 
ried and  lived  next  door  to  the  inn.  In  the  house  that  William  Cutter  had 
built  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Dunster  and  Winthrop  streets,  be- 
fore he  returned  to  Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  Benoni  Eaton  died  in  1690  and,  with- 
in a  year,  his  widow,  Rebecca,  married  John  Hastings,  Jr.  There  was  not 
money  enough  to  pay  his  debts,  and  his  daughter  Rebecca's  husband,  John 
Bunker,  took  the  house,  and  it  passed  into   the   Moore  family. 

HOPKINS-ANGIER  HOUSE.     (A5.) 

Opposite  the  First  Meeting  House,  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Spring  Lane 
(Mount  Auburn  street)  and  Water  street,  was  the  house  of  John  Hopkins, 
also  one  of  the  Hooker's  followers  to  Hartford.  Edmund  Angler,  from  Ded- 
ham,  England,  took  the  house,  in  1636.  His  wife  was  Ruth,  daughter  of  that 
famous  light.  Dr.  Ames.  They  had  six  children.  Mrs.  Angler  died  in  1656.  Her 
daughter,  Ruth,  married  Rev.  Samuel  Cheever,  of  Marblehead,  and  her  son. 
Rev.  Samuel  Angier,  was  minister  at  Watertown  West  Parish  and  married 
Hannah,  daughter  of  the  president  of  Harvard  College,  Urian  Oakes.  He 
was  gn'eat-grandfather  of  Madame  Cralgie.  In  less  than  a  year  after  the 
death  of  his  wife,  Edmund  Angier  married     Anne     Batt,     of     Newbury,     who 


62  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

brought  him  eight  children.  One  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married  Rev.  Jona- 
than Pierpont,  of  Reading,  and  another,  Sarah,  married  Rev.  Christopher 
Tappan,  of  Newbury.  Edmund  Angler  was  one  of  the  first  merchants  of 
Cambridge,  grocer  and  woolen  draper.  His  shop  was  diagonally  across  from 
his  house.  He  died  in  1692,  aged  SO  years,  and  his  grandson,  Samuel  Angler, 
Jr.,  the  shoemaker,  son  of  Rev.  Samuel,  lived  in  the  house  until  his  death, 
in  1722.  His  widow  and  children  sold  it  to  Ebenezer  Stedman,  in  1750.  So  it 
was  in  the  same  family  for  one  hundred  and  sixteen  years. 

AUSTIN-BL0DGET-KE:MPSTER-H0LDEN  house.     (A6.) 

There  were  two  houses  between  Angler's  house  and  the  one  on  the  corner 
of  Harvard  square.  The  southerly  one  belonged  to  Jonas  Austin,  then  in 
rapid  succession  passed  into  the  ownership  of  Thomas  Blodgett,  then  of 
Elder  Edmund  Frost,  who  sold  to  Widow  Katherine  Haddon.  In  1644,  it  be- 
longed to  Daniel  Kempster,  the  carpenter.  His  name  is  mientioned  several 
times  in  the  old  town  records,  permission  being  given  him  to  cut  down  cer- 
tain trees  "for  his  trade."  He  lived  here  twenty-two  years.  In  his  will,  he 
divides  his  property  between  his  cousins  and  kinsmen,  giving  money 
to  his  niece,  "daughter  of  Brother  John  Kempster,  sometime  of  Needum,  Eng- 
land," and  to  Elder  Edmund  Frost,  the  residue  to  "such  as  shall  be  ten- 
der to  me  and  show  me  kindness  in  my  sickness  and  old  age."  He  sold  the 
house  to  Justinian  Holden    in  1666,  and  died  the  same  year. 

Holden  came  here  in  1634  and  bought  land  in  "Watertown  and  around  Fresh 
Pond.  His  first  wife  died  March  18,  1673,  and  he  married  Mary,  daughter  of 
John  Rutter,  of  Sudbury,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons  and  three  daughters. 
He  may  have  lived  here  with  his  family,  but,  in  1698,  as  recited  in  his  deed, 
Thomas  Post  was  living  in  the  north  side  of  the  house  and  he  sold  the  south 
side  to  Thomas  Moore,  of  Boston,  mariner,  "with  that  part  of  the  chimney 
that  doth  belong  thereto."  It  probably  was  a  small  house,  with  one  chimney 
in  the  middle. 

STANLEY-FRENCH-BARRETT   HOUSE.     (A7.> 

The  remaining  house,  on  the  west  side  of  Dunster  street,  belonged  first 
to  Timothy  Stanley,  then  to  Ricliard  Chanipuey,  who  sold  it,  in  1639,  to  Wil- 
liam French,  tailor,  who  was  lieutenant  of  the  militia.  He  sold  it,  in  1656, 
to  William  Barrett  and  went  to  live  in  Billerica,  where  he  was  the  first 
representative  of  that  town,  in  1666.  William  Barrett  was  a  tailor,  and, 
when  he  bought  the  house,  he  brought  his  bride  here.  She  was  Sarah,  widow 
of  Joseph  Champney,  of  Billerica.  The  Barretts  lived  here  a  hundred  and 
seventeen  years,  until  1773,  when  Thomas  Barrett  sold  the  south  half  of  the 
house    to    William    Morse.    This    Is    the  last  of  the  old  houses   opening  onto 

the  west  side  of  Dunster  street. 

M.  I.  J.  G. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  53 

STEPHIDN  DAYE  HOUSE.     (A8.) 

A  tablet  set  in  the  wall  of  Brock  Brothers'  store,  west  corner  of  Dunster 
street  and  Harvard  square,  informs  us  that 

Here   Lived 

Stephen  Daye 

First  Printer  in 

British    America 

1638-1658. 

Stephen  Daye,  born  about  1594,  lived  in  Cambridge,  England.  The  few 
facts  we  know  about  him  are  mostly  found  in  the  Dunster  papers  in  tlie 
Harvard  College  Library.  One  document  shows  that,  when  he  was  twenty- 
four  years  old,  in  February,  1617,  he  was  about  to  marry  Rebecca,  widow  of 
Andrew  Bordman,  baker,  who  had  a  young  son,  William.  Daye  binds  himself 
to  "honestly  according  to  his  degree,  educate  and  bring  up  ye  sd.  "William 
Bordman,  during  ye  time  of  his  nonage,  with  meate,  drink,  apparell  and 
learning  and  at  twenty-one  pay  over  to  him  fifty  pounds  good,  lawful  money." 
Daye  probably  worked  at  his  trade  of  locksmith  and  learned  something 
about  printing  during  the  next  twenty  years,  for,  June  7,  1638,  he  entered 
into  a  contract  with  Rev.  Josse  Glover,  "to  embark  with,  all  speed  in  the 
ship  called  'Jolm  of  London,'  for  New  England,  with  his  wife,  two  sons, 
Stephen  and  Matthew,  stepson,  Williami  Bordman,  and  three  servants,  to 
work  at  the  trade  said  Stephen  used  for  three  years."  Mr.  Glover  paid  him 
forty-four  pounds  and  gave  tools  and  kettles  to  the  amount  of  seven  pounds, 
which  Stephen  was  to  repay  in  twenty-four  months.  Many  of  the  tools 
were    those    used    by    locksmiths,    as  may  be  seen  in  the  inventory. 

It  is  probable  that  Mr.  Glover  and  family,  with  the  longed-for  printing 
press,  were  on  the  same  ship.  "Winthrop  writes,  March,  1639:  "A  printing 
house  was  begun  at  Cambridge  by  one  Daye,  at  the  charge  of  Mr.  Glover, 
who  died  on  sea  hitherward."  This  was,  for  thirty-five  years,  the  only 
printing  press  in  America  north  of  Mexico.  Da.ve  received  from  the  gen- 
eral court  a  grant  of  300  acres  of  land,  in  1641,  "where  it  may  be  convenient 
without  prejudice  to  any  to-uni";  and  from  Cambridge  a  share  in  the  Shaw- 
shine  lands,  and  other  real  estate,  but  he  did  not  thrive  and,  in  his  last  days, 
was  dependent  on  his  stepson.  He  died  on  December  22,  1668,  aged  about 
seventy-five.  He  printed  the  Freeman's  Oath,  two  editions  of  the  Bay 
Psalm  Book,  the  lists  of  theses  at  Harvard  commencements,  1643-1647,  the. 
Declaration  of  Famous  Passages  and  Proceedings  between  the  English  and 
Narragansetts,  and  other  works.  They  were  not  as  well  printed  as  many 
books  of  that  time  in  England.  No  printing  was  done  in  Daye's  house,  as 
the  records  say  the  press  was  set  up  in  President    Dunster's    house. 

Stephen  Daye,  Jr.,   died  before  the  familyhad  been  here  a  year;  his  brother 
Matthew  lived  until  1649.    His  name  stands  as  printer  on  the  title  page  of  the 


54  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

"Almanac  for  New  England  by  Mr.  William  Peirce,  Mariner,  1646,"  on 
which  the  press  work  is  better  done  than  on  that  of  any  book  his  father 
printed.  Matthew  Daye  was  steward  of  Harvard  College  and  gave  part  of 
the  land  for  the  Fellows'  Orchard.  He  must  have  been  fond  of  children,  for 
when  he  was  dying  he  asked  that  a  silver  spoon  each  should  be  given  to 
President  Dunster's  children — David,  who  was  four  years  old,  and  Dorothy, 
a  baby  of  sixteen  months,  "and  the  third  that  hath  my  own  name  on  itwh. 
I  brought  out  of  England,  to  my  old  acquaintance,  little  Samuel  Shepard," 
the  eight-year-old  son  of  the  minister,  whose  baby  brother,  Jeremy,  received 
"my  ivory  inkhorn  in  m.y  box  with  a  whistle  in  it."  "The  little  child 
Moses,"  who  was  about  nine,  his  half-brother's  eldest  child,  was  to  have  all 
his  furniture,  after  his  mother  was  done  with  it,  and  "the  books  that  may 
serve  for  the  training  up  of  the  childe  to  schoole."  His  other  books  were 
given  to  Sir  Brock.  To  the  minister's  wife  he  wished  given  "my  diaper 
table  cloath  and  napkins  which  were  not  yet  made  up."  He  died,  unmarried. 
May  10,  1649. 

The  first  owner  of  this  lot,  west  corner  of  Harvard  square  and  Dunster 
street,  was  Edward  Stebbins.  In  1635,  Nicholas  Dauforth  bought  it  for  Ed- 
ward Collins,  and,  in  1642,  Nathan  Aldus  lived  here.  The  next  owner  was 
Stephen  Daye,  and,  on  his  death,  it  went  to  his  stepson,  William  Bordman. 
Early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  Willard's  Hotel  stood  here,  the  entrance 
being  near  the  present  waiting  room  of  the  electric  cars.  Here  people  booked 
for  places  in  the  stage  for  Boston,  fare  twenty-five  cents,  or  for  Cam- 
bridgeport,  fare  eigbteen  and  three-quarters  cents.  M.  I.  J.  G. 

BORDMAN  HOUSE.     (A9.) 

The  east  corner  of  Harvard  square  and  Dunster  street,  now  occupied  by 
Brock  &  Eaton's  store,  was  granted  to  George  Steele,  representative,  in  1635. 
He  went  to  Hartford  in  Hooker's  company  and  the  house  was  bought  by  Ed- 
ward Goffe,  who  owned  it  in  1642,  after  which  it  belonged  to  William  Bord- 
man, who  on  Daye's  death  came  into  possession  of  the  property  on  the  west 
corner  of  Dunster  street,  to  which  his  son,  Aaron,  added  the 
adjoining  land  extending  to  Brighton  street  (now  Boylston). 
Both  these  estates  remained  in  the  Bordman  family  ab\Dut  150 
years.  Although  a  tailor  by  trade,  William  Bordman  was  early  appointed 
steward  (bursar)  and  cook  of  Harvard  College.  The  latter  position  he  held 
until  his  death,  March  25,  16S5.  Judge  Sewell  speaks  of  him  as  "Major  Bord- 
man," probably  indicating  his  college  offlce,  as  steward  was  in  some  sort 
a  major-domo.  His  eldest  daughter,  Rebecca,  married  John  Palfrey,  Au- 
gust  14,   1664.    The   other   daughters   also  married  into  Cambridge  families. 

Andrew,  the  eldest  son,  inherited  the  homestead,  succeeded  his  father  as 
college  cook  and  was  chosen  by  the  corporation     to    manage    the    ofRce     of 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  55 

steward.  He  also  kept  a  shop,  or  variety  store.  He  married  Ruth  Bull,  Oc- 
tober 15,  1669.  Their  eldest  daughter,  Ruth,  married,  December  30,  1696, 
Eev.  Benj.  Wadsworth,  president  of  Harvard  College,  who  built  the  old 
President's  House,  nearly  opposite  her  father's  home.  Andrew  died,  July 
15,  1687,  aged  41. 

Aaron,  son  of  William,  was  made  college  smith  in  1675,  and  succeeded  his 
brother  as  college  cook  and  steward.  He  inherited  his  father's  estate  on  the 
westerly  side  of  Dunster  street,  to  which  he  made  large  additions  and  be- 
came an  extensive  land-holder.  His  son,  Moses,  was  a  captain  of  militia 
and  an  active,  energetic  man.  He  was  a  selectman  eighteen  years  and 
served  on  various  important  committees.  He  married  Abigail,  daughter  of 
Deacon  Walter  Hastings,  and  resided  on  the  easterly  side  of  Massachusetts 
avenue,  near  the  common, 

Andrew  Bordman,  Jr.,  son  of  Andrew  and  grandson  of  William,  was  a 
saddler,  endowed  with  an  unusual  tact  for  business.  Although  sixteen  years 
old  when  his  father  died,  he  assumed  the  charge  of  the  store,  aided  by  his 
mother.  He  succeeded  his  uncle  in  the  office  of  steward  and  college  cook, 
in  1703,  and  so  satisfactorily  performed  the  duties  of  steward  for  forty- 
four  years  that,  on  his  death,  the  corporation  entered  on  their  records  a  testi- 
mony to  his  faithfulness.  He  was  town  clerk  thirty-one  successive  years, 
town  treasurer  forty-six  successive  years,  selectman  eighteen  years,  also  rep- 
resentative in  1719  and  1720.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Richard 
Trusdale,  December  17,  1697.  He  lived  all  his  life  in  the  homestead  where 
he  died,  May  30,  1747,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six. 

Andrew  Bordman,  3d,  inherited  the  house  in  Harvard  square,  east  side 
of  Dunster  street,  and  succeeded  his  father  as  steward  of  the  college  in 
1747,  which  office  he  held  about  three  years,  thus  nearly,  if  not  entirely, 
completing  a  century  of  stewardship  held  by  members  of  the  same  family. 
He  also  succeeded  his  father  in  the  office  of  town  clerk  and  town  treasurer. 
He  was  representative  in  the  general  court,  justice  of  the  peace,  register 
of  probate,  and  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas.  He  married  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Spencer  Phips,  February,  1731-2,  who  lived 
in  the  fine  mansion  on  Arrow  street.  He  died  on  May  19,  1769.  His  only 
sister,  Ruth,  married  John  Higginson,  of  Salem.  His  son,  Andrew  Bord- 
man, 4th,  inherited  the  homestead,  and,  after  his  mother's  death,  the  whole 
estate,  including  more  than  one  hundred  acres  in  the  northeasterly  section 
of  Cambridgeport.  After  1780,  he  removed  to  Tewksbury,  but  returned  in 
about  14  years  and  lived  in  what  was  known  as  the  Cholera  House,  on 
Plymouth  street.  He  sold  the  homestead  in  1794  to  the  corporation  of  Har- 
vard College.  In  1805,  he  erected  a  house  on  the  corner  of  Hampshire  and 
Winsor  streets,  where  he  subsequently  resided.  A  few  years  previous,  ha 
sold  large  portions  of  his  estate,  and  gave  to  the  town  the  schoolhouse  lot 


66  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

at  the  comer  of  Winsor  and  School  streets.  He  was  town  clerk  and  treas- 
urer several  years.  He  married  Mair  daughter  of  William  Blair  Townsend. 
It  is  remarkable  that  the  office  of  town  clerk  was  held  by  three  generations 
of  the  same  family — father,  son  and  grandson — for  eighty  consecutive  years, 
and  the  name  of  that  incumbent  was  Andrew  Bordman,  throughout  the 
whole  period.  They  deserve  the  thanks  of  posterity  for  the  very  legible  and 
neat  appearance  of  their  records.  As  he  had  no  children,  this  branch  of  the 
family   became   extinct   when   he   died,  July  27,  1817,  aged  nearly  seventy-two. 

A.  L.  C.  B. 

HANCOCK- DANFORTH  HOUSE,  1634-184-.  (AlO.) 

Dunster,  known  as  Water  street  until  after  1806,  is  called  in  some  of 
the  old  deeds  "the  main  street  that  goeth  from  the  wharves  to  the  meet- 
ing-house." On  the  east  side,  there  were  several  historic  houses.  In  the 
early  years,  they  changed  owners  frequently.  Later,  families  stayed  on  in 
the  old  homesteads.  A  dark,  weatherbeaten  house  stood  on  the  east  side  about 
a  hundred  yards  from  Harvard  square,  the  second  story  projecting  three 
feet  beyond  the  lower  story.  The  house  was  taken  down  within  the 
memory  of  many  no.w  living.  It  was  often  erroneously  called  the  Dunster 
House.  This  house  was  built  in  1634,  by  Nathaniel  Hancock  (great-great- 
grandfather of  John  Hancock,  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence). 
He  was  one  of  the  first  company  of  settlers.  He  died  young,  in  1648,  leaving 
his  widow,  Joanna,  to  bring  up  their  six  children.  His  eldest  son,  Na- 
thaniel, born  in  1638,  inherited  the  house.  He  was  one  of  the  town  drum- 
mers and  deacon  of  the  church.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Henry  Pren- 
tice, the  emigrant,  and  had  twelve  children,  probably  all  born  in  this  house. 
The  famous  "Bishop  John  Hancock,"  of  Lexington,  grandfather  of  the  sign- 
er, who  was  second  master  of  the  Cambridge  grammar  school,  was  one  of 
his  sons.  He  died  in  1719,  and  his  sons,  Samuel  and  John,  sold  the  house, 
in  1725,  to  Samuel  Danforth. 

Judge  Danforth  was  then  master  of  the  grammar  school.  He  was  the  son 
of  Rev.  John  Danforth,  of  Dorchester;  bom  November  12,  1696;  graduated 
at  Harvard  in  1715.  The  year  after  he  bought  the  house,  he  married 
Elizabeth  Symmes,  and  they  lived  here  together  for  almost  fifty  years. 
Samuel  Danforth  filled  many  ofllces:  selectman  five  years;  representative 
four  years;  for  thirty-six  successive  years  on  the  governor's  council;  jus- 
tice of  peace  and  quorum;  register  and  judge  of  probate;  and,  until  the 
Revolution,  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas.  It  was  from  this  house 
that  he,  an  old  man  nearly  seventy-eight,  went  out  that  memorable  Friday 
morning,  September  2,  1774,  to  stand  on  the  steps  of  the  court  house  in 
Harvard  square,  facing  his  angry  fellow  townsmen,  calming  them  by  the  as- 
surance that  he  had  naeant  to  serve  them  by  accepting  the  office  of  "mandamus 
councillor,"  and  was  mortified  to  learn   that   this   step   was   disagreeable   to 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  57 

them.  He  told  them  he  would  "never  accept  any  office  inconsistent  with  the 
charter  rights  of  his  country."  Soon  after,  he  went  to  the  house  of  his  son, 
Dr.  Samuel  Danforth,  in  Boston,  where  he  died,  October  27,  1777.  His  son, 
Thomas,  was  a  Royalist  and  fled  to  England.  His  daughter.  Elizabeth,  and 
son.  Dr.  Samuel  Danforth,  sold  the  house  in  17S0  to  Zechariah  Hicks, 
either  brother  or  son  of  John  Hicks,  who  was  killed  on  the  day  of  the  Battle 
of  Concord.  Judge  Danforth  had  bought  the  land  through  to  Holyoke  street 
and  also  the  house  south  of  his,  which  had  belonged  to  the  Barretts;  so  he 
probably  had  a  large,  pleasant  garden. 


CANE-TOWNE-BAINBRIDGE  HOUSE,  1635.    (All.) 

The  second  house  down  the  street,  built  by  Christopher  Cane 
in  1635,  was  sold  by  him,  in  1638.  to  William  Towne,  the 
first  sexton  of  the  church,  who  lived  here  until  the  meeting-house  was 
built  on  Watch  Hill,  when  he  ^exchanged  this  house  for  one  on  the  corner  of 
Garden  and  Mason  streets,  belonging  to  Justice,  widow  of  Guy  Bainbridge, 
who  sold  it  to  Nathaniel  Hancock,  Jr.,  in  1666.* 


HEATE-MARRETT  HOUSE.     (A12.) 

The  house  on  the  corner  of  Mount  Auburn  street  belonged 
first  to  Thomos  Heate,  who  sold  it.  in  1638,  to  Deacon  Thom- 
as Marrett,  who  was,  it  is  supposed,  the  First  deacon  of  the 
Shepard  Church.  How  long  he  lived  here  is  uncertain.  In  1655,  Daniel  Stone, 
"chirurgeou,"  was  in  the  house,  and  he  sold  it  in  1657  to  Samuel  Andrew, 
mariner,  who  had  lived  farther  down  the  street.  Andrew  commanded  various 
ships  and,  with  Mr.  Jonas  Clark,  surveyed  the  northerly  bounds  of  the  Patent 
on  the  sea  coast,  reporting  to  the  general  court  in  1653.  He  was  selectman, 
town  clerk,  town  and  county  treasurer.  He  died  in  1701,  and  his  grandson, 
Samuel  Andrew,  sold  the  house  to  captain  Edward  Marrett  (great-grandson 
of  the  second  owner),  who  lived  here  during  the  Revolution.  His  son,  Deacon 
Thomas  Marrett,  shortly  before  his  death  in  1784.  sold  this  place  to  Leonard 
Vassell  Borland.  This  house  has  been  turned  aroimd  and  is  still  standing— No. 
72  Mount  Auburn  street,  next  west  of  St.  Paul's  Church.  It  was  long  known 
as  the  Foster  house,  as  Dr.  Thomas  Foster  lived  here.  It  is  a  two-story  house 
with  attic  and  dormer  windows  and  has  a  finely  paneled  front  door,  wains- 
coted rooms  and  handsome  staircase.  It  is  now  occupied  by  the  Southern 
Club,  of  Harvard  students. 


*It  is  probable  that  this  house  was  early  taken  down  to  enlarge  the  Hancock 
garden. 


68  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

SAMUEL  DUDLEY  HOUSE,  1632.     (A13.) 

The  house  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Mount  Auburn  and  Dunster  streets, 
just  opposite  the  first  meeting-house,  was  built  by  Samuel  Dudley,  the 
son  of  the  governor.  He  married  Grovemor  John  Winthrop's  daughter,  Mary, 
and  was  gone  from  Cambridge  before  1642,  when  Robert  Saunders  had  his 
house.  Next,  it  became  the  shop  of  Edmund  Angler,  woolen  draper,  and  of 
his  grandson,  Samuel  Angier,  shoemaker,  whose  widow,  Dorothy,  sold  it,  in 
1723,  to  Deacon  Samuel  Whittemore. 

CORLETT  HOUSE.    (A14.) 

The  next  house  was  the  home  of  Elijah  Corlett,  the  first  master  of  the 
grammar  school,  who,  for  nearly  half  a  century,  fitted  boys  for  college.  He 
died  in  1687.  The  house  went  to  his  daughter,  Hepzibah  Champney,  and  in  1738, 
it  was  sold  by  Dr.  Ammi  Euluimah  Cntter,  of  Yarmouth,  the  grand  nephew  of 
Mrs.  Elijah  Corlett,  to  Judge  Edmund  Trowbridge. 

ANDREW-USHER  HOUSE.    (A15.) 

In  1635  this  house  belonged  to  'V^niliam  Andrew,  in  1642  to  Hezekiah  Usher, 
the  first  bookseller  in  the  colonies,  who  removed  to  Boston  in  1645.  His  son, 
Hezekiah  Usher,  Jr.,  born  in  Cambridge,  1639,  married  Bridget,  daughter  of 
Lord  Lisle,  and  widow  of  President  Leonard  Hoar  of  Harvard.  The  later  own- 
ers of  the  house  are  net  known. 

JOHN  HICKS  HOUSE.    (A16.) 

We  now  come  to  the  one  old  house,  still  standing  in  this  street,  that  of 
John  Hicks,  the  patriot,  who  was  killed  near  the  junction  of  Massachusetts 
and  Rindge  avenues  by  the  retreating  British,  on  April  19,  1775.  He 
was  great-grandson  of  Zechariah  Hicks,  the  founder  of  the  family.  He  was 
bom  on  May  23,  1725,  and  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Jonathan  Nutting, 
of  Wrentham.  His  son  Jonathan  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  in  1770,  and  was 
surgeon  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  This  house  is  on  the  southeast  comer  of 
Dunster  and  Winthrop  streets.  In  the  early  times,  other  noted  persons  lived 
in  a  still  older  house  on  this  site— Major  Simon  Willard,  who  left  in  1635 
to  become  one  of.  the  founders  of  Concord,  and  Edward  Mitchellson,  who 
was  marshal  general,  or  high  sheriff,  fom  1637  till  his  death,  in  1681.  His 
daughter,  Ruth,  married  John  Green,  who  succeeded  him  in  his  office,  and 
their  son,  Jonathan,  sold  the  house  to  Joseph  Coolidge    In  1696. 


o 

o 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  59 

JOHN  BRIDGE  HOUSE.     (A17.) 

The  house  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Dunster  and  South  streets,  directly 
opposite  Governor  Dudley's,  was  built  by  John  Bridge,  whose  statue  may  be 
seen    today    on    Cambridge    CommorL    He    lived    here    until   he   bought   the 

site  of  the  Longfellow  house. 

BENJAMIN-PAYNE-MANNING    HOUSE.     (A18.) 

The  last  house  between  South  street  and  the  river  was  built  by  Constable 
John  Benjamin,  in  1635,  who  sold  it  to  Moses  Payne  in  1646.  Henry  Adams 
lived  here  a  few  months,  and  it  then  passed  into  the  Manning  family,  who 
kept  it  till  1720,  when  Samuel  Manning,  Jr.,  sold  it  to  Jonathan  Remington. 

M.  I.  J.  G. 

HOLYOKE  STREET. 
STEELE-BRADISH  HOUSE.     (28.) 

Holyoke  street,  called  in  the  early  times  Crooked  street,  then  much  more 
crooked  than  now,  was  the  most  easterly  street  of  the  old  town.  At  the 
head  of  the  streef,  on  the  west  corner,  was  the  house  of  John  Steele,  who  had 
a  grant  of  land  here  in  1635.  He  was  a  brother  of  George  Steele,  who  lived 
on  the  easterly  corner  of  Harvard  square  and  Dunster  street.  Between  their 
lands,  a  little  way  back  from  the  road,  was  the  common,  or  village  pond, 
where  the  cattle  were  doubtless  driven  to  drink  on  their  way  to  and  from  the 
cow  common.  This  pond  was  drained  and  filled  in  by  owners  of  the  adjacent 
lands  in  1671.  Both  the  Steeles  went  to  Hartford  with  Rev.  Mr.  Hooker  and 
John  sold  his  house  to  Robert  Bradish  in  1635. 

Robert  Bradish  was  one  of  Shepard's  company.  His  first  wife 
died  here  in  1638,  and  he  married  Vashti,  whose  surname  is  not 
known.  He  lived  until  1659.  In  1654,  President  Dunster  wrote  to  the  county 
court  in  behalf  of  Sister  Bradish,  "that  shee  might  be  encouraged  and  coun- 
tenanced in  her  present  calling  for  baking  of  bread  and  brewing  and 
selling  of  penny  bear,  without  which  shee  canot  continue  to  bake:  In  both 
which  callings  such  is  her  art,  way  and  skill,  that  shee  doth  vend  such  com- 
fortable penniworths  for  the  relief  of  all  that  send  unto  her,  as  elsewhere 
they  can  seldom  meet  with.  Shee  was  complained  of  unto  me  for  harboring 
students  unseasonably,  spending  their  time  and  parents'  estate;  but  upon 
examination  I  found  it  a  misinformation,  and  that  shee  was  most  desirous 
that  I  should  limit  or  absolutely  prohibit  any;  that  in  case  of  sickness,  or 
want  of  comfortable  bread  or  bear  in  the  college  only,  they  should  thither 
resort  and  then  not  to  spend  above  a  penny  a  man,  nor  above  two  shillings 
in  a  quarter  of  a  year;   which  order  shee   carefully  observed  in   all  ordinary 


60  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

cases "    President   Dunster   then  reminds    the   court    "how    Christian    a 

thing  in  Itself  godly  emulation  is as  contrary  wise  the  undoing  messures 

of  momopolyes." 

Widow  Vashti  Bradish  lived  until  1672;  six  years  after  her  death  her  step- 
soU;  Joseph  Bradish,  A^ho  had  lived  in  Sudbury  and  Framingbam,  returned 
to  live  in  this  house  with  his  wife  and  children.  The  youngest  of  them,  then 
a  boy  of  six,  is  supposed  to  have  been  tlie  pirate  who  was  sent  to  England 
and  executed  in  1699,  when  only  twenty-seven  years  old.  A  younger  son, 
John,  was  the  father  of  Ebenezer  Bradish,  who  kept  the  famous  "Blue  Anchor 
Tavern"  In  Boylston  street,  near  Harvard  square,  and  of  Isaac  Bradish, 
college  smith  and  jailer  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  He  lived  in  Win- 
throp  street  and  his  son,  "William,  was  one  of  the  two  drummers  of  Colonel 
Gardner's  regiment  at  Lexington  and  Concord.  Joseph  Bradish  died  in  1725 
and  two  years  later  the  house  and  lands  were  sold  by  his  children  to  Ed- 
ward Goffe. 

WADSWORTH-CHAMPNEY  HOUSE.     (A27.) 

The  first  house  whose  door  opened  on  the  west  side  of  Holyoke  street  was 
built  by  William  Wadsworth,  selectman  in  1634-5,  who  went  with  Hooker  to 
Hartford.  He  married  for  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth,  sister  of  Rev.  Samuel 
Stone  and  it  was  their  sou,  Joseph,  who  wrested  the  charter  from  Andros  and  hid 
it  in  the  famous  Charter  Oak  in  1687.  In  1637,  Wadsworth  sold  the  Holyoke 
street  house  to  the  ruling  elder  of  the  First  Church,  Richard  Champney,  who 
lived  here  until  his  death,  in  1669,  and  was  succeeded  by  three  generations  of 
Champneys,  all  bearing  the  given  name  of  Samuel.  The  last  one,  who  was 
probably  married  in  1772,  may  have  lived  here  during  the  Revolution. 

MUZZY-LUXFORD-DUNSTER  HOUSE.     THE  FAIRE  GRAMMAR 
SCHOOL.     (A26.) 

The  next  estate,  going  down  the  street,  once  belonged  to  President  Dunster. 
Part  of  the  land  he  gave  for  the  building  of  the  schoolhouse  whose  site  is 
marked  by  a  stone.  Before  1639,  this  house  belonged  to  Widow  Hester  Muzzy, 
who  married  William  Roscoe  and  went  to  Hartford.  She  sold  to  John 
Knight,  who  sold  to  Nicholas  Symkin,  late  of  Dorchester,  from  whom  it 
came  into  the  possession  of  James  Luxford,  one  of  the  few  black  sheep 
among  the  early  settlers.  He  seems  to  have  thought  that  New  England  was 
so  far  away  from  Old  England  that,  if  he  married  here,  it  would  never  be 
known  that  he  had  left  a  wife  in  the  old  home.  His  Cambridge  wife  was 
probably  Sister  Albone.  In  1639,  his  villiany  was  discovered  and  he  was  fined 
a  hundred  pounds  and  condemned  "to  be  set  in  the  stocks  an  hour  upon 
market  day,  after  the  lecture,   if  the  weather  permit;    or  else  the   next  lecture 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  61 

day  after."  The  follawing  May,  he  was  convicted  of  forgery,  lying  and  other 
foul  offences  and  was  "censured  to  be  bound  to  the  whipping  post  till  the  lec- 
ture from  the  first  bell  and  after  the  lecture  to  have  his  ears  cut  off;  and  so 
he  had  liberty  to  depart  out  of  our  jurisdiction."  Probably  he  sold  this  house 
to  pay  the  fine,  for  it  was  just  at  this  time  that  Mrs.  Glover  bought  it. 
Later,  her  second  husband,  President  Dunster,  sold  it  to  Thomas  Fownell,  but 
bought  it  back  in  1648.  It  is  thought  that  the  house  had  been  used  for  some 
years  for  a  school  before  President  Dunster  gave  the  land  for  the  school- 
house,  which  was  built  under  the  direction  of  Edward  Goffe  and  himself.  It 
became  the  property  of  the  town,  by  absolute  deed  from  the  widow  and  chil- 
dren of  President  Dunster,  in  1660.  President  Dunster  played  such  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  development  of  the  town  and  college  that  no  history  of 
Cambridge  would  be  complete  without  some  notice  of  this  great  man. 

Henry  Dunster  was  one  of  that  noble  company  who,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  emigrated  to  the  new  world  and  laid  the  foundation  of  our  civil  and 
religious  institutions.  The  place  and  year  of  his  birth  cannot  be  exactly 
ascertained.  He  was  educated  in  Magdalen  College,  Cambridge,  England, 
B.A.,  1630,  M.A.,  1634,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  son  of  Henry  Dunster,  of 
Balehoult,  Bury,  Lancashire.  His  father  was  a  man  of  liberal  education, 
living  March  20,  1640,  as  appears  by  a  letter  from  him  of  that  date.  Mr.  Dun- 
ster arrived  in  Boston  in  the  summer  of  1639,  and  lived  on  his  own  estate  at 
the  northeast  corner  of  Court  and  Washington  streets.  Dunster  was  soon 
called  by  the  elders,  ministers  and  magistrates,  almost  by  acclamation,  to 
move  to  Cambridge  and  was  made  president  of  Harvard  College,  August  27, 
1640,  which  office  he  held  until  October  24,  1654.  He  it  was  who  formed  the 
laws  that  long  governed  the  college  and  laid  down  the  course  of  studies  to 
be  pursued,  which  was  very  different  from  that  in  use  in  the  English  uni- 
versities at  that  time.  When  made  president,  he  was  a  young  man,  and  un- 
married. The  following  year,  June  22,  1641,  he  married  Elizabeth  Harris, 
widow     of     Rev.     Josse     Glover.  It     is     probable     that     President     Dun- 

ster lived  in  his  wife's  house,  on  the  west  side  of  Winthrop  square,  until  her 
death  in  1643.  He  had  a  lot  of  six  acres  on  the  northerly  side  of  Brattle 
street  in  1641,  and  his  bam  stood  there  near  the  town  spring.  He  raised 
money  among  the  friends  of  the  college  to  build  a  president's  house,  to 
which  he  moved  after  his  wife's  death.  It  has  long  been  a  matter  of  conjec- 
ture where  this  house  stood.  Recently,  Andrew  McFarland  Davis  has  found 
among  the  records  of  Harvard  University  the  following  resolution,  passed  at 
a  meeting  of  the  corporation  in  1724: 

"Whereas,  the  college  is  now  without  a  president's  house,  it  being  removed 
when  the  Massachusetts  College  was  built,  etc." 

There  is  no  other  record  of  a  president's  house  prior  to  that  time,  so  it 
seems   reasonably  certain   that   the   house   built   by   President   Dunster   stood 


62  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

within  the  limits  of  the  college  yard,  on  part  of  the  land  where  Massachusetts 
Hall  now  stands. 

President  Dunster  had  no  children  by  his  first  marriage,  but  he  became 
the  guardian  of  Mr.  Glover's  five  children,  a  trust  which  he  executed  as  "a 
kind  and  watchful  parent  and  considerate  instructor."  As  an  illustration 
of  the  manner  in  which  justice  was  administered  more  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago,  it  may  be  mentioned  that,  on  the  final  settlement  of  his  ac- 
count by  the  court,  President  Dunster  was  required  to  pay  for  the  use  of  all 
the  property  of  his  wife  and  to  surrender  every  article  or  its  equivalent  to  her 
children.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  allowed  payment  for  the  children 
while  in  his  family  and  also  for  the  maintenance  of  his  wife,  with  a  maid 
to  attend  her,  and  the  medical  and  funeral  expenses. 

The  year  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Mr.  Dunster  married  another 
Elizabeth,  by  whom  he  had  five  children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters, 
all  of  whom  were  born  In  Cambridge.  Paige  says:  "It  is  singular  that  so 
much  obscurity  should  rest  on  such  a  distinguished  family;  even  the  name  or 
origin  of  his  second  wife  not  being  known — the  only  clue  which  the  most 
diligent  search  has  obtained  is  a  bequest  to  her  in  his  will  of  twelve  or  sixteen 
books  'brought  by  her  out  of  England.'  " 

Rev.  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  Sr.,  writes:  "Probably  the  college  has  never  had  a 
more  able,  faithful,  devoted  officer  than  Dunster.  His  labors  were  not  con- 
fined to  the  toils  of  instruction  and  government;  but  in  the  midst  of  these 
he  was  obliged  to  struggle,  not  always  successfully,  for  the  means  of  support 
for  himself,  the  college  and  the  more  needy  of  his  pupils."  It  is  to  its 
first  president  that  Harvard  is  indebted  for  its  seal,  the  word  "Veritas"  on 
the  three  open  books,  as  well  as  for  its  charter.  President  Eliot  said,  some 
time  since:  "Two  hundred  and  forty-five  years  ago,  Henry  Dunster,  the 
first  president  of  Harvard  College,  was  turned  out  of  his  oflice  by  the  Con- 
gregationalists,  who  then  ruled  Massachusetts,  because  he  had  ceased  to  be- 
lieve in  infant  baptism,  finding  adult  baptism,  more  scriptural  and  edifying. 
He  was  turned  out  on  a  cold,  rough,  thankless  world  after  fourteen  years  of 
the  most  devoted  service,  under  the  most  adverse  conditions;  but  today 
Dunster  is  one  of  Harvard's  saints  and  heroes,  and  for  a  hundred  years  Har- 
vard has  been  devoted,  in  every  fibre  of  her  body  and  every  drop  of  her  blood, 
to  freedom  of  thought  and  speech." 

In  October,  1654,  Dunster  was  compelled  to  resign  the  presidency,  but  he 
petitioned  to  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  president's  house  (which  he  had 
built  "with  singular  industry,  through  great  diflSculties"),  through  the 
winter.  This  petition  was  very  reluctantly  granted.  Now,  as  his  brethren 
were  alienated  from  him  and  church  and  state  were  against  him,  he  was 
forced  to  seek  another  home.  Here  he  was  not  permitted  to  teach,  preach 
or  exercise  any  liberal  profession.    The  town  of  Scituate,  only  twenty  miles 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  63 

away,  but  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  general  court  of  the  Puritans,  af- 
forded a  shelter  and  a  field  of  usefulness  to  the  exile,  and  here  he  died 
February  27,   1659. 

In  his  will,  he  provided  for  his  burial  at  Cambridge  and  appointed  Presi- 
dent Chauncy,  who  had  succeeded  him  as  president  of  the  college,  and  Mr. 
Mitchell,  the  pastor  of  the  church,  to  appraise  his  library,  and  bequeathed 
them  sevei-al  books.  "This  loving  and  forgiving  spirit  towards  those  who 
had  so  deeply  wronged  him,  shed  a  beautiful  radiance  over  the  last  days  of 
Mr.   Dunster.    He  was  proved  to  be  thoroughly  good,  as  well  as  great,  a  man 

to  be  loved  even  more  than   to  be  admired." 

I.   S.   W. 

[The  inhabitants  of  Charlestown,  in  1646,  granted  to  President  Dunster  Wen- 
otomie,  or  Menotomy,  bounded  by  the  Cambridge  line  on  one  side,  Misticke 
pond  and  river  and  Menotomy  brook  on  the  other  sides.  This  tract  of 
land,  now  included  in  Arlington,  was  long  known  as  Charlestown  End.  Part 
of  the  land  remained  in  the  Dunster  family  for  several  generations.  The 
president's  grandson,  Henry,  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the  Second 
Church  in  Cambridge  (Menotomy).  He  died  in  1748,  having  married  Martha, 
daughter  of  Jason  Russell,  by  whom  he  had  eleven  children;  his  daughters 
married  into  the  Dixon,  Marrett  and  Cutter  families  and  his  niece,  Abigail 
De  Carteret,  married  William  Wliittemore.  Many  descendants  of  President 
Dunster  are  living  and  many  lie  in  the  old  burying  ground  in  Arling- 
ton. One  of  the  sons  of  Henry,  of  Menotomy,  was  Rev.  Isaiah  Dunster,  of 
Harwich.  His  three  daughters,  the  Misses  Dunster,  of  Pembroke,  gave  Pres- 
ident Dunster's  Bible  to  Harvard  College  in  1841.  The  Old  Testament  is  in 
Hebrew,  the  new  Testament  in  Greek.] 

THE  SCHOOL  HOUSES. 

A  visitor  at  Cambridge,  late  in  1648,  strolling  through  Crooked  street  (now 
Holyoke  street),  would  have  noticed,  about  opposite  the  present  site  of  the 
Hasty  Pudding  Club,  a  small,  two-story  stone  building,  having  every  indication 
of  recent  completion.  Its  gable  ends  were  "wrought  up  in 
battlement  fashion,"  its  doorway  arched  overhead,  and  a  broad 
chimney  on  one  side,  of  stone  and  brick,  gave  promise  of  a  generous  fire- 
place within. 

The  stranger  would  have  been  told  that  this  was  the  new  grammar  school- 
house,  lately  built  by  several  public-spirited  men,  Mr.  Dunster,  president  of 
the  college,  at  their  head.  He  would  also  have  learned  that  Mr.  Elijah  Corlett, 
who  had  "very  well  approved  himselfe  for  his  abilities,  dexterity  and  painful- 
nesse  in  teaching  and  education  of  the  youth  under  him,"  was  its  honored 
master. 


64.  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

FIRST,  SECOND  AND  THIRD  SCHOOL  HOUSES,  1648-1700.    (A26.) 

This  was  the  first  school-house  erected  in  Cambridge,  and  was  occupied  by 
that  "faire  Grammar  Schoole,  for  the  training-  up  of  young  Schollars,  and  fitting 
of  them  for  Academicall  Learning,"  which  had  been  opened  five  or  six  years 
earlier  by  Mr.  Corlett.  The  quarter-acre  lot,  on  which  the  new  school-house 
stood,  was  owned  by  President  Dunster,  and  had  on  it,  originally,  a  dwelling 
house  that  was  probably  the  first  home  of  the  school. 

The  new  quarters  for  the  school  were  built  by  contract,  the  masons,  with 
great  accommodation,  agreeing  to  accept  merchandise  as  their  recompense, 
"provided  it  bee  good  and  merchandible  in  its  kind,  whether  corne  or  cattle, 
and  to  goe  at  such  rates  as  now  it  is  payable  from  man  to  man,  when  the 
aforesaid  masons  take  the  aforesaid  worke,  that  is  to  say,  Wheat  at  4s., 
Rye  at  3s.  6d.,  Indian  at  3s.,  Pease  at  3s.  6d.,  Early  mault  at  4s.  6d.  the 
bushell."  Although  it  was  by  private  subscription  that  this  building  was 
raised,  Mr.  Dunster,  forced  to  leave  both  the  college  and  the  town  by  reason 
of  his  change  of  faith,  requested.  In  1655,  that  the  sum  of  £40  be  given  to 
him  "upon  the  account  of  his  outlajdng  for  the  school-house."  This  the  town 
refused  to  pay,  though  later  the  sum  of  £10S,  10s,  was  raised  "for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  school-house,"  Mr.  Dunster  doubtless  receiving  a  share.  After  his 
(lefith,  his  heirs  renewed  the  claim  for  further  remuoeration.  As  the  family  were 
in  great  need,  the  town,  in  1660,  agreed  to  pay  them  £30,  on  condition  that  they 
grant  an  absolute  deed  of  sale  of  house  and  land,  tlius  making  this  the  first 
public  school  property  to  be  owned  by  the  town.  Had  our  visitor  entered  the 
new  home  of  the  school,  he  would  have  found  Master  Corlett,  quaintly  dressed 
in  the  wig,  small  clothes,  and  doublet,  of  his  age,  busy  with  a  small  class 
composed  wholly  of  boys,  all  looking  forward  to  the  same  goal  that  attracts 
so  many  today — Harvard  College. 

These  scholars  were  examined  "oppenly***att  the  publicke  Commencement," 
by  the  president  of  the  college,  and  "also  the  honored  and  Reverent  Over- 
seers." At  times,  there  were  Indian  pupils  among  the  number,  and  these 
were  found  to  give  "good  statlsfaction,"  "conserning  theire  growth  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  lattin  toungrue,"  One  of  these  copper-colored  pupils  gradu- 
ated from  the  college  in  1665,  but  died  the  following  year.  Owing  to  the 
small  number  of  pupils,  the  stated  fees  for  tuition,  though  possibly  supplement- 
ed by  about  £7,  10s.  each  year  from  the  Hopkins  charity*  were  not  adequate 
for  Mr.  Corlett's  support,  and  the  town  often  had  to  supply  the  deficiency  by 
special  grant.    The  early  town  records  have  a  number  of  entries   similar  to 


*Edward  Hopkins,  an  Englishman  whose  sympathies  and  interests  were 
united  early  in  life  with  the  Puritans,  came  to  this  country  in  1637,  where, 
after  a  brief  stay  In  Boston,  he  joined  the  settlement  at  Hartford,  Conn.  He 
soon  became  prominent  in  business  and  political   affairs,   being  governor  for 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  65 

the  following':  "It  was  agreed,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Whole  Towne,  that 
there  should  be  land  sould  of  the  Comon  for  the  gratifying  of  Mr.  Coriet, 
for  his  paines  in  keepeing  a  schoole  in  the  Towne,  the  sume  of  Ten  pounds, 
if  it  can  be  obtained,  provided:  it  shall  not  prejudice  the  Cow  Common."**  'The 
towne  consented  that  twenty  pounds  should  be  le\ned  upon  the  several  in- 
habitants and  given  to  Mr.  Coriet  for  his  *  *  Incouragement  to  continue 
with  us." 

The  colony  also  found  it  necessary  to  aid  this  "memorable  old  school- 
master," granting  him  five  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  for  nearly  fifty  years 
he  struggled  on  with  his  task  of  fitting  boys  for  college.  Such  training  for 
girls  was  not  thought  of,  "dame  schools"  being-  sufficient  for  their  education. 
As  late  as  1829,  In  an  official  report,  12  months  of  a  school  taught  by  a  "fe- 
male" were  reckoned  as  only  4  4-5  months  of  a  master's  school.  Later,  teach- 
ers needed  the  same  "Incouragement"  as  Mr.  Corlett,  as  the  following  item 
from  the  town  records  shows:  "It  was  put  to  vott  whether  their  should  be 
given  by  the  Town  in  Comon  pay  Annually  to  a  schoolmaster  twelve  pound." 
The  master  was  to  teach  "both  latten  and  english  and  to  write  &  sipher," 
In  spite  of  the  fact  that  at  town  meeting  the  constables  were  ordered  to 
"forth  with  take  effectual  care  for  the  repaire  of  the  meeting  house  and  the 
schoole  house,"  after  only  twenty  years  of  service  this  structure  was  torn 
down  and  rebuilt;  and  again,  in  1700,  a  new  and  larger  building,  26  feet  by 
20  feet  in  size,  M^as  erected  on  the  same  site.|| 

This  school  was  made  a  free  school  in  1737,  and,  with 
the  discontinuance  of  a  tuition  fee,  the  salary  of  the  master 
was  increased.  The  pupils  were  not  wholly  exempt  from  expense,  how- 
ever, as  in  1748  the  town  "Voted,  that  the  Grammar  Schoolmaster  in  this  town 
be  desired  and  is  hereby  empowered  to  make  a  tax  on  every  school-boy,   not 


six  years.  He  returned  to  England,  and  died  in  London  in  1657.  By  his  will, 
a  generous  leglacy  was  left  "to  g-ive  some  encouragement  in  those  foreign 
plantations  for  the  breeding  of  hopeful  youths  both  at  the  grammar  school 
and  college."  Though  the  final  settlement  of  the  will  was  greatly  delayed, 
in  1664,  Harvard  College  received  a  share  of  its  bequest,  and,  in  1713,  both 
school  and  college  received  the  remaining  legacy.  The  portion  received  for 
the  use  of  the  public  schools  appears  to  have  been  expended  in  the  support  of 
the  first  public  school  of  the  town,  and  was  continued  until  the  establishment 
of  the  Hopkins  Classical  School,  in  1S39.  This  school  was  first  taught  in  a 
building  near  Boylston  Hall,  in  the  college  grounds,  but  soon  after  was 
removed  to  a  house  on  Main  street  (Massachusetts  avenue),  near  Dana.  This 
school  was  discontinued  in  1854,  since  which  time  this  portion  of  the  income 
from  the  Hopkins  Fund  has  been  used  for  sustaining  a  Hopkins  classical 
teacher  in  the  Latin  School. 

**Forty  acres  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  were  sold  for  this  purpose. 

llAccording  to  a  map  of  the  town  at  this  time,  the  school-house  was  so 
placed  that  the  road  divided,  and  passed  on  cither  side  of  the  building,  sim- 
ilar to  the  present  situation  of  the  Old  State  House  in  Boston. 


66  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

exceeding  six  shillings,  old  tenor,  from  time  to  time,  as  there  shall  be  occa- 
sion to  purchase  wood  for  the  use  of  said  Grammar  School."  Pupils  who  re- 
fused to  pay  were  to  be  excluded  from  the  school. 

This  building  remained  in  use  until  1769,  when  -it  was  demolished,  a  new 
school-house  being-  erected  on  Garden  street,  about  one  hundred  feet  west  of 
Appian  Way.  On  the  site  of  the  old  school-house,  in  the  meantime,  had  been 
built  a  printing  establishment,  so  that,  for  years  following,  the  spot  was  de- 
voted almost  continuously  to  the  cause  of  literature.  Some  bits  of  description 
of  the  quaint  old  school  on  Garden  street  have  come  to  us  from  one  of  its 
later  pupils  (the  late  William  A.  Saunders). 

FOURTH  AND  FIFTH  SCHOOL  HOUSE,  1769-1852.     (C64.) 

The  building  was  one  story  high,  capped  with  a  small  cupola,  in  which  hung 
a  bell  which  sounded  daily  at  nine  and  two  o'clock.  Over  the  front  door-way, 
which  faced  the  south,  was  a  porch,  in  one  comer  of  which  were  kept  the 
broom  and  the  water-pail,  with  its  accompanying  tin  dipper.  On  the  opposite 
side,  the  day's  supply  of  wood  was  piled,  while  the  space  between  was  oc- 
cupied by  the  caps  and  coats.  The  boys  took  turns  in  sweeping,  making  the 
fire,  filling  the  water-pail  and  bringing  in  the  daily  quota  of  wood  from  the 
cellar  where  it  was  stored.  Access  to  this  cellar  was  through  a  large  scuttle 
just  inside  the  door-way,  and  this,  with  a  square  box  stove  and  the  master's 
desk,  well  supplied  in  spring  with  the  old-fashioned  lilacs,  occupied  the 
central  space  of  the  school-room.  On  either  side  were  plank  benches  used  for 
seats,  having  a  sort  of  shelf  before  them,  on  which  to  write,  while  under- 
neath was  a  place  in  which  td  store  the  lead  plummets  and  home-made  writ- 
ing books.  The  more  advanced  scholars,  however,  had  copy-books  with 
printed  headings.  Between  the  benches:  were  narrow  aisles,  through  which  the 
master  walked,  with  ruler  under  his  arm,  to  mend  the  quill  pens  or  see  what 
•was  going  on,  and  by  which  the  scholars  passed  and  repassed  to  their  seats. 
The  older  boys  occupied  the  rear  seats,  which  were  graded  to  the  center  of  the 
room,  where  sat,  on  long  benches,  the  little  folks  of  the  school,  from  four 
to  six  years  old,  busy  or  asleep  over  their  A,  B,  C's. 

It  was  not  until  1826  or  1827,  when  the  building  was  renovated  inside,  that 
girls  were  admitted  to  the  school,  and  then  only  a  few  attended,  the  rear 
seats  along  the  street  side  of  the  room  being  allotted  to  their  use. 
As  examination  days  came  around,  the  old  school-room  received  an  extra 
cleaning.  On  these  impressive  occasions  the  committee  presented  themselves, 
accompanied  by  interested  parents  and  friends.  When  these  august  visitors 
lifted  the  latch,  the  school  rose  to  Its  feet  in  an  instant.  An  examination  in 
reading,  spelling,  arithmetic  and  writing  followed,  to  the  edification  of  the 
master,  if  not  the  pupils.  The  only  holiday  in  the  week  was  what  was  left 
on  Saturday  after  the  wood  was  sawn,  boots  blacked  and  the  grass  raked  for 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  67 

Sunday.  In  winter,  the  old  Half  Crown  Lot  on  Mount  Auburn  street,  opposite 
Hilliard  street,  was  the  rendezvous  for  those  who  could  skate  or  slide.  These 
half-holidays  were  supplemented  during-  the  year  by  two  vacations  of  a  week 
each,  one  at  Artillery  Election  in  the  early  summer,  and  the  other  at 
Thanksg-iving  time  in  the  late  fall. 

The  school-house  of  1769***  was  occupied  for  over  sixty  years,  but  by  1832 
Its  days  of  usefulness  for  school  purposes  were  over,  and  it  was  moved  to 
Brighton  street,  and  converted  into  a  dwelling  house. 

On  this  site  was  erected  a  larger  and  finer  building,  the  first  "Washington 
School. "1*1  This  name,  however,  was  not  given  to  it  until  1845.  Previous  to  that 
time,  it  was  known  as  the  "Latin  Grammar  School,"  this  name  having  sup- 
planted the  original  title  of  "Grammar  Schoole,"  at  an  early  date.  After 
the  establishment  of  the  high  school,  in  1S38,  the  school  ceased  to  be  Latin, 
though  it  still  retained  the  name  until  the  new  one  was 
given.  In  this  school  was  taught,  after  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Latin  department,  a  primary  and  grammar  school,  until  1852, 
when  its  place  was  taken  by  the  dedication  of  the  second  "Washington 
School,"  oin  Brattle  street.  When  this  change  was  made,  the  Garden  street 
schoolhouse*  was  sold  and  used  for  about  a  year,  as  a  private  gymnasium, 
when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire. 

SIXTH  AND  SEVENTH  SCHOOL  HOUSES,  1852-1905. 

In  one  way,  at  least,  the  Washington  School  has  emulated  its  worthy  an- 
cestor,   its    first    principal,    Mr.    Daniel  Mansfield,  being  master  for  nearly  as 

***Next  to  this  school-house,  on  Garden  street,  standing  back  from  the  road, 
was  a  quaint  and  antique  cottage  occupied  by  old  "Molly  Hanco.ck."  She  was 
very  eccentric  and  very  cross,  to  the  amusement  of  the  boys  who  delighted  to 
plague  her.  She  lived  in  the  house  during  the  Revolution,  and  took  great  pleas- 
ure in  showing  the  nail  on  which  some  British  officer  had  hung  his  elegant 
"goold"  watch.  The  walls  of  her  rooms  were  covered  with  prints  and  pictures, 
pasted  on,  as  well  as  hung  with  trinkets  of  all  kinds,  collected  during  a  long 
lifetime.  She  was  burned  to  death  in  1828,  having  fallen  into  her  open  fire,  and 
there  lay  dead,  until  discovered  by  the  neighbors. 

|*|ln  1840,  this  school  was  divided,  the  girls  being  sent  to  the  Auburn  School, 
in  School  court,  now"  Farwell  place.  In  1845,  this  was  made  a  high  school  for 
both  sexes,  but  the  next  year  "for  reasons  of  economy,  the  two  schools  were 
united  in  the  Auburn  building  under  the  name  of  the  Auburn  Grammar  and 
High  School."  In  1848,  the  high  school  department  was  transferred  to  the 
high  school  at  Cambridgeport.  The  other  classes  remained,  under  the  name  of 
the  Auburn  Grammar  School  until  1851,  when  the  building  was  moved,  first 
to  Massachusetts  (then  North)  avenue,  and  finally  to  Concord  avenue,  where 
it  became  the  Dunster  Primary  School.  It  has  recently  been  sold  by  the 
city,  and  is  now  a  parochial  school. 

*In  1847.  the  ye.ir  after  his  cradnation.  Professor  Charles  Eliot  Norton  estab- 
lished here  the  first  evening  school  in  Cambridge,  and  continued  to  teach  it  for 
several  years,  aided  by  a  student. 


68  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

many  years  as  was  the  first  master  of  "the  Faire  Grammar  Schoole."  The 
present  master  of  the  school,  Mr.  Freese,  succeeded  him.  The  following  is  a 
fairly  complete  list  of  the  masters'  of  this  school,  since  its  establishment: 
Elijah  Corlett,  appointed  in  1636-7;  John  Hancock,  in  1790-1;  John  Sparhawk, 
in  1692-3;  Nicholas  Fessenden,  in  1701;  Samuel  Danforth,  in  1719;  John  Hovey, 
in  1730;  Stephen  Coolidg-e,  in  1730;  John  Hovey,  in  1737;  Stephen  Coolldge,  in  1741; 
Williami  Fessenden,  in  1745;  James  Lovell,  in  1756;  Antipas  Steward,  in  1760; 
Stephen  Sewell,  in  1762;  Jonathan  Crane,  in  1763;  Thomas  Danforth,  in  1765; 
Eben  Steadman,  in  1766;  Thomas  Coleman,  in  1770;  Jonathan  Hastings,  in 
1772;  Jonatlian  Enms,  in  1776;  Elisha  Parmell,  in  1778;  Aaron  Bancroft,  in 
1778;  Samuel  Kendall,  in  1780;  Asa  Packard,  in  1783;  Lemuel  Hedge,  in  1783; 
Samuel  Webber,  in  17S4;  Henry  Ware,  (?);  Hezekiah  Packard,  in  1788;  Thomas 
Bancroft,  in  17S8;  Daniel  Clarke  Sanders,  in  1788;  Samuel  Shapleigh,  in  1789; 
Pitt  Clarke,  in  1790;  William  Mason,  in  1792;  James  Bowers,  in  1794;  Daniel 
Kendall,  in  1795;  Luther  Wright,  in  1796;  Jonathan  Whitaker,  in  1797;  Obediah 
Parker,  (?);  James  Converse,  till  1800;  Abraham  Scales,  till  1802; 
Phineas  Adams,  till  1803;  Solomon  K.  Livermore,  till  1803;  John  Ran- 
dall, till  1804;  Robert  Adams,  till  1805;  John  Bartlett,  till  1806; 
Timothy  Wellington,  till  1808;  Samuel  Newell,  till  1808;  Moses  Hol- 
brook,  till  1809;  Proctor  Pierce,  in  1812;  William  Ware,  in  1817;  James  D. 
Farnsworth,  in  1818;  William  Milliard,  in  1820;  Benjamin  Kent,  in  1821;  G.  W. 
Burnham,  till  1825;  Edward  Mellen,  till  1826;  D.  Stone,  till  1828; 
H.  C.  Merriam,  till  1829;  Charles  Stewart,  in  1830;  F.  A.  Worcester,  in 
1831;  Rev.  R.  T.  Austin  (Reuben  Seiders),  in  1833;  Luther  Farrar,  in  1834; 
Elias  Nason,  in  1835;  Mr.  Emery,  in  1836;  Charles  Warren,  in  1837;  Henry  J. 
Parker,  in  1837;  Rev.  R.  T.  Austin,  in  1839;  George  A.  Gushing,  in  1840;  Daniel 
Mansfield,  in  1842;   John  W.  Freese,  in  1886. 

In  1890,  a  brownstone  tablet,  the  gift  of  Mr.  Phillip  Nutting,  was  placed  in 
the  outer  wall  of  the  school,  which  read: 

WASHINGTON  SCHOOL. 

DESCENDANT  OF  THE   "FAIRE   GRAMMAR  SCHOOLE," 

FIRST    SCHOOL   IN    CAMBRIDGE. 

In  an  essay  entitled,  "The  Public  Schools  of  Cambridge,'  the  late  Hon. 
Frank  A.  Hill  wrote:  "Thus,  at  length,  came  to  rest  the  perturbed  spirit  of 
Elijah  Corlett's  transformed,  dismembered,  and  wandering  school,  not  quite 
sure  but  it  ought  to  claim  a  burial  urn  in  the  Cambridge  High  School,  or  in  one 
or  the  other  of  its  branches,  but  content,  on  the  whole,  to  be  known  as  the 
loyal  ancestral  shade  of  the  Washington  Grammar  School.",  But  alas!  Again 
the  abiding  place  of  the  child  of  the  Faire  Grammar  Schoole  has  been  disturbed, 
not  only  driven  from  its  dwelling,  but  the  old  homestead  given  over  to  the 
hand  of  the  spoiler,  who  has  destroyed  both  the  building  and  the  memorial 
tablet,  so  long  one  of  its  features.    A  new  and  beautiful  home  on  the  corner 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  69 

of  Felton  and  Cambridg-e  streets  promised  to  compensate  for  the  loss  of  the 
old,  but  only  a  transitory  stay  was  made  there,  and  the  Washing-ton  School 
now  nnds  itself  merged  in  the  Henry  O.  Houghton  School,  on  Putnam  avenue. 

C.   J.    A. 

ABBOTT-MOORE-SAWTELL-HOVEY    HOUSE.     (A24.) 

The  site  of  the  church  building  erected  by  the  Shepard  congregation  (now 
owned  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  St.  Paul's)  next  south  of  the  site 
of  the  first  schoolhouse,  was  originally  granted  to  Daniel  Abbott,  who  about 
1639  moved  to  Providence,  R.  I.  In  1642,  Francis  Moore  was  living  here.  After 
his  death,  which  occurred  in  1671,  his  sons,  Francis,  Jr.,  Thomas  and  John 
Moore,  sold  the  house  to  John  Sawtell,  grandson  of  Thomas  Post,  of  Dunster 
street.  He  died  about  1700,  and  his  widow,  Anna,  may  have  resided  here  until 
she  sold  it  in  1711  to  John  Knight,  who  sold  in  1729  to  Joseph  Hovey,  whose 
widow  married  for  her  second  husband,  Nathaniel  Parker,  of  Newton.  In  1740 
Judge  Trowbridge  bought  the  house  of  Mrs.  Parker,  took  it  down  and  built  liere 
a  low  wooden  law  office,  in  which  he  taught  his  famous  pupils:  Parsons,  Gore, 
Tyler,  King,  Otis,  and  others  distinguished  in  the  law. 

This  lot  was  inlierited  in  1S22  by  his  great-niece.  Miss  Sarah  Ann  Dana,  who 
gave  it  to  the  Sliepard  Church  in  1830.  "The  gift  was  accepted  by  the  Society, 
June  4,  and  August  4,  1830,  a  service  of  consecration  of  the  land  was  held,  at  the 
close  of  which,  a  member  began  to  dig  the  cellar,  and  on  the  south  corner  the 
stone  was  laid." 

RUSSELL-GREEN-TROWBRIDGE  HOUSE. 

The  lot  next  to  the  corner,  on  Mount  Auburn  street,  belonged  to  John 
Russell  in  1642,  but  soon  after  became  the  homestead  of  Samuel  Green,  the 
famous  printer,  who  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  Daye  press  about  1649, 
and  continued  to  work  for  half  a  century.  He  died  here  in  1702,  and  in  1707  his 
son,  Timothy  Green,  printer,  of  Boston,  sold  the  homestead.  Mr.  Green  married 
first,  Jane,  daughter  of  Guy  Eainbridge,  who  died  in  1657,  and  he  then  married 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Elder  Jonas  Clarke.  The  house  was  owned  by  Samuel  Goffe, 
and  inherited  by  his  daughter  Lydia,  wife  of  Rev.  Thomas  Barnard  of  Andover, 
who  sold  it  to  Judge  Trowbridge.  The  latter,  during  the  Revolution,  was  sus- 
pected of  being  a  Tory,  and  went  to  Byfield  for  a  time,  but  returned  and  died 
here  in  1793.  His  residuai-y  legatee  was  Chief-Justice  Dana,  whose  unmarried 
daughters  and  son  Edmund  lived  here  after  the  death  of  their  father. 


70  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

STOCKING-MANNING-GODDARD  HOUSE.    (A23.) 

The  next  estate,  southwest  corner  of  Holyoke  and  Mount  Auburn  streets, 
we  can  only  follow  down  to  1726.  The  first  owner  was  George  Stocking-,  who 
went  to  Hartford  and  sold  the  house  in  1638  to  William  Manning,  the  first 
house  occupied  by  one  of  that  name,  ancestor  of  some  who  are  still  prominent 
in  Cambridge  affairs.  Later,  Benjamin  Goddard,  founder  of  the  family  so 
long  well  known  in  North  Cambridge,  lived  here.  William  Goddard,  his 
father,  was  a  London  grocer  who  settled  in  Watertown,  where  Benjamin  was 
born.  Benjamin  was  a  carpenter  and  married,  in  1689,  the  daughter  of  another 
carpenter,  Martha  Palfrey,  who  lived  on  Massachusetts  avenue  opposite  the 
comanon.  About  1712,  Benjamin  Goddard  removed  to  North  Cambridge, 
where  he  resided  opposite  Porter's  Hotel.  His  wife,  Martha,  dying  in  1737, 
he  married  Anne  Oldham,  who  survived  him.  Elizabeth  Gove,  widow  of  John 
Gove,  who  lived  on  Boylston  street,  bought  the  house  of  the  Goddards.  Her 
maiden  name  was  Waldin,  and  she  had  been  the  wife  of  Mr.  Batson.  Mrs. 
Gove  gave  the  house  to  her  daughter,  Sarah  Batson,  in  1726,  "for  the  love 
she  bore  her,"  and  there  we  have  to  leave  it  at  present. 

LEWIS-CUTTER-BIIIDGE  HOUSE.     (A22.) 

The  northwest  corner  of  Holyoke  and  Winthrop  streets  had  four  own- 
ers before  1642.  William  Lewis,  the  original  grantee,  went  to  Hartford  in 
Hooker's  company  and  later  to  Farmington,  Conn.  Thomas  Besbeech,  the 
next  owner,  went  to  Scituate  and  Duxbury  and  sold  to  William  Cutter,  who 
was  here  in  1638  and  later  returned  to  England  and  was  living  at  New- 
castle-on-Tyne  in  1653.  From  him  this  land  went  to  John  Bridge,  the  typical 
Puritan  settler  whose  statue  stands  on  Cambridge  Common  and  who  lived 
on  Dunster  street  and,  later,  on  Brattle  street. 

WESTWOOD-BETTS-JOHN  SHEPARD  HOUSE.    (A21.) 

The  southwest  comer  of  Holyoke  and  Winthrop  streets  belonged  to  Wil- 
liam Westwood  in  1635.  He  was  selectman,  or  townsman,  in  the  first  board, 
chosen  in  1635,  but  soon  after,  he  too,  went  to  Connecticut  and,  in  1642,  John 
Betts  was  living  here.  He  came  here  in  1634,  being  then  about  forty  years 
old.  It  is  thought  that  his  wife  was  the  sister  of  John  Bridge.  In  the 
Colony  Records  of  May  18,  1653,  we  find  the  following:  "John  Betts,  of  Cam- 
bridge, being  at  a  Court  of  Assistants  on  his  trial  for  his  life,  for  the  cruelty 
he  exercised  on  Robert  Knight,  his  servant,  striking  him  with  a  plough-staff, 
&c.,  who  died  shortly  after  it,  the  jury  brought  in  their  verdict,  which  the 
magistrates  not  receiving,  came  in  course  to  be  tried  by  the  General  Court"; 
....    and  in   the   Court  Records:   "The    General    Court   do   not    find   John 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  71 

Betts  leg-ally  guilty  of  the  murdering-  of  his  late  servant,  Robert  Knight;  but 
forasmuch  as  the  evidence  brought  In  against  him  holds  forth  unto  this 
court  strong  presumptions  and  great  probabilities  of  his  guilt  of  so  bloody  a 
fact,  and  that  he  hath  exercised  and  multiplied  inhuman  cruelties  upon  the 
said  Knight,  this  court  doth  therefore  think  meet  that  the  said  John  Betts  be 
sentenced,  viz.:  1.  That  the  next  lecture  day  at  Boston  (a  convenient  time 
before  the  lecture  begin)  the  said  Betts  have  a  rope  put  about  his  neck  by  the 
executioner  and  from  the  prison  that  he  be  carried  to  the  gallows,  there  to 
stand  upon  the  ladder  for  one  hour  by  the  glass,  with  the  end  of  his  rope 
thrown  over  the  gallows.  2.  That  he  be  brought  back  to  prison,  and  im- 
mediately after  the  lecture  to  be  severely  whipped."  He  was  also  obliged  to 
pay  costs  of  both  courts  and  was  bound  over  to  good  behavior  for  a  year. 
He  died  February  21,  1663.  The  year  before  his  death  he  sold  this  house 
to  John  Shepard,  cooper,  son  of  Edward  Shepard,  who  lived  next  door.  His 
wife  was  probably  the  daughter  of  Samuel  Greenhill,  who  had  gone  to  Hart- 
ford, and  in  1681  the  Shepards  went  to  that  place  also,  where,  Hinman  says, 
of  John  Shepard,  ""He  became  a  man  of  consequence  in  the  Colony." 

FISHER-EDWARD    SHEPARD-WARLAND-GOOKIN-HILL 
HOUSE.     (A20.) 

Edward  Shepard  bought  the  next  house  of  Thomas  Fisher,  who  went  to 
Hartford.  He  was  a  mariner  and  died  in  16S1,  after  which  his  son,  John, 
sold  the  homestead  to  Owen  Warland,  the  founder  of  another  noted  Cam- 
bridge family,  who  married  Hannah  Gay,  was  a  currier  by  trade  and  was 
constable  in  1697.  In  1705,  he  and  his  wife  conveyed  half  of  the  estate  to  their 
son  Williami  They  probably  died  in  1716,  when  William  Warland  obtained 
the  whole  estate.  His  first  wife  was  Tabitha  Hill,  whom  he  married  in  1701. 
His  second  wife  was  Anne,  daughter  of  Captain  Josiah  Parker.  She  lived 
here  with  her  son,  Owen,  after  her  husband's  death  in  1727,  for  eighteen  years, 
and  then  moved  to  the  comer  of  Dunster  and  Winthrop  streets. 

In  1760,  Captain  Samuel  Gookin,  having  sold  his  homestead  on  the  other  side 
of  the  street,  bought  this  house  for  himself,  his  wife  and  daughter,  Mary. 
Captain  Gookin's  first  wife  was  Susanna  Parker,  sister  of  the  second 
Mrs.  William  Warland  and  his  second  wife  was  Priscilla,  daughter  of  Daniel 
Dana  and  widow  of  Joseph  Hill.  Captain  Gookin  was  deputy  sheriff  sixty-four 
years,  having  been  appointed  when  he  was  nineteen,  and  crier  twenty-four 
years.  His  daughter,  Mary,  inherited  the  house  on  his  death,  about  1767.  She 
married,  first,  James  Kettle,  1763,  and,  second,  Joseph  Jeffries  before  1790. 
She  died  in  Boston  in  1825,  the  last  of  the  Gookin  family  in  Cambridge.  Cap- 
tain Gookin  divided  his  property  between  his  own  daughter  and  two  children 
of  his  wife  by  her  former  husband,   Priscilla  and   Benjamin   Hill.    Benjamin 


72  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

lived  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  but  his  son,  Joseph  Hill,  tailor,  who  mar- 
ried Persis  Munroe,  lived  in  this  house  until  he  moved  to  the  Benoni  Eaton 
house,  southwest  corner  of  Winthrop  and  Dunster  streets.    He  died  in  1845. 

ELDER  JONAS  CLARKE'S  HOUSE.     (A19.) 

The  land  south  of  South  street,  on  the  west  side,  belonged  to  John  Beujamin, 
and  in  1642  to  John  Betts.  Here  Jonas  Clarke,  the  famous  ruling  elder,  built  his 
house  and  brought  up  his  large  family  of  seventeen  children.    He  had  three  wives 

— Sarah  ,  Elizabeth  Clarke  and  Elizabeth  Cook.     The  last  outlived  him  and 

married  Deacon  Walter  Hastings.  Elder  Clarke  was  a  mariner,  well  skilled  in 
mathematics,  and  had  commanded  many  ships.  He  was  associated  with  Samuel 
Andrews  in  the  observation  of  the  northern  boundary  of  the  patent  and  made  a 
report  on  it  to  the  general  court  in  1653.  He  was  ordained  ruling  elder  with  El- 
der John  Stone,  in  1682,  His  colleagxie  died  the  next  year,  and  Elder  Clarke 
ruled  alone  until  his  death.  Judge  Sewall  thus  notices  this  event:  "Lord's- 
day,  January  14,  1699-1700,  Elder  Jonas  Clarke  of  Cambridge  dies;  a  good  man 
in  a  good  old  age,  and  one  of  my  first  and  best  friends  in  Cambridge. 
He  quickly  follows  the  great  patron  of  ruling  elders,  Thomas  Danforth,  Esq." 
He  was  the  last  ruling  elder. 

After  the  death  of  Elder  Clarke,  his  sons  sold  the  estate,  in  1705,  to  James 
Clark,  cordwainer,  who  seems  to  have  been  the  grave-digger,  as  may  be 
seen  from  a  quaint  document  in  the  probate  office.  His  youngest  daughter, 
Elizabeth,  inherited  the  estate  and  sold  it  to  Osgood  and  Farrington,  mer- 
chants, who  probably  built  a  distillery  here.  It  is  thought  that  these  men 
had  an  apothecary  shop  in  Harvard  square  before  the  Revolution  just  south  of 
Church  street.  Thomas  Farrington  was  in  the  Continental  Army  and  James 
Otis  wrote  a  letter  to  General  Washington,  recommending  himi  to  any  vacant 
position.  After  the  war,  he  had  an  apothecary  shop  on  Green  street,  in  Bos- 
ton.   The  Clark  estate  was  partly  marshland,  and  so  we  find  ourselves  at  the 

end  of  the  west  side  of  Holyoke  street  on  the  bank  of  the  Charles  River.* 

M.  I.  J.  G. 

THE  COOKE-HOLYOKE  HOUSE,  1667-1905.     (A29.) 

The  land  on  the  east  side  of  Holyoke  street  and  north  side  of  Holyoke  place 
was  granted  to  three  proprietors,  Joseph  Redding,  Stephen  Hart  and  Nathaniel 
Richards.  Hart  went  to  Hartford,  Redding  to  Ipswich  and  Richards  disappeared 
from  the  records,  and  all  their  lands  became  the  property  of  Joseph  Cooke,  who 
came  to  New  England  with  his  younger  brother,  George,  in  1635,  in  the  same 
vessel  with  Rev.  Mr.  Shepard.    The  brothers    were   registered    as    servants    to 


*0n  the  en  St  side  of  Holyoke  street,  near  the  river.  Governor  Dudley  planned 
to  have  a  fort,  which  seems  never  to  have  been  built. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  73 

Rog-er  Harlakenden,  a  position  evidently  assumed  for  disguise,  enabling  them 
to  leave  England  more  easily.  Shepard  himself  embarked  under  the  name 
of  John   Shepperd,    husbandman. 

Samuel  Shepard,  the  half  brother  of  Ilev.  Thomas  Shepard,  was  closely  as- 
sociated with  George  Cooke;  they  came  to  New  England  together,  came  to 
Cambridge  at  the  same  time  and  together  returned  to  England  to  serve  under 
Cromwell,  Cooke  as  colonel,  Shepard  as  major.  Colonel  Cooke  is  supposed  to 
have  been  killed  in  the  wars  in  Ireland  in  1652.  While  here,  George  Cooke 
took  active  part  both  in  civil  and  military  affairs;  he  was  selectman,  1638, 
1642-1643,  and  speaker  of  the  house  in  1645.  The  same  year,  he  was  elected 
one  of  the  reserve  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies.  In  1637,  he  was  ap- 
pointed captain  of  the  first  train-band  in  Cambridge,  a  member  of  the  artillery 
in  1638,  and  its  captain  in  1643.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  and  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  expedition  sent  to  Rhode  Island  in  this  year  to  appre- 
hend Samuel  Gorton  and  company.  Colonel  Cooke  probably  resided  at  the 
northerly  corner  of  Boylston  and  Eliot  streets. 

Joseph  Cooke,  the  elder  brother  of  George,  became  also  a  prominent  citizen. 
His  house  was  on  the  east  side  of  Crooked  street  (Holyoke)  and  his 
land  extended  from  Mount  Auburn  street  on  the  north,  southerly  and  east- 
erly into  the  marshes.  The  house  fronted  south,  facing  the  stretch  of  good 
land — marsh  and  river — "a  fair  and  lovely  prospect."  He  also  owned  other 
lands,  which  prove  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  substance  and  good  standing. 
He  was  selectman  seven  years  in  the  period  between  1635  and  1645,  town  clerk 
five  years,  local  magistrate  from  1648  to  1657,  and  representative  from  1635  to 
1641. 

It  was  probably  because  of  his  ownership  of  marsh  lands  that  the  town 
ordered,  January  4,  1636,  "That  Mr.  Joseph  Cooke  shall  keep  the  Ferry,  and 
have  a  penny  over  and  a  half  a  penny  on  lecture  days."  The  fact  that  he  is 
called  "Mr."  instead  of  Goodman,  shows  his  position  in  the  settlement.  In 
military  affairs  he  was  also  active,  and  when  his  brother  left  New  England 
the  court  desired  "Mr.  Joseph  Cooke  to  take  charge  of  the  Company  in  the 
absence  of  the  Captain  and  till  the  Court  shall  take  further  order."  In  1658, 
he  went  to  England  and,  while  residing  at  Stannaway,  County  Essex,  in  1665, 
conveyed  his  homestead  and  several  lots  of  land  to  his  son.  Paige  says: 
"Joseph  Cooke  was  the  friend  and  patron  of  Mr.  Shepard  in  England." 
Shepard  speaks  most  affectionately  of  him  in  his  autobiography.  It  is 
thought  that  Mr.   Cooke  never  returned  to  New  England. 

Joseph,  his  eldest  son,  born  December  27,  1643,  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1660  or  1661.  He  married  Martha,  daughter  of  John  Stedman,  December  4, 
1665,  and  resided  on  the  homestead  that  his  father  gave  Lim  about  the  time  of 
his  marriage,  and  added  more  lands  by  purchase.  He  had  his 
father's  military  spirit,  was  lieutenant  commander    of    Major   Gookin's    com- 


74  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

pany  in  1677,  and  was  engag^ed  in  King  Philip's  war.  He  was  representative 
six  years  between  1671  and  16S0.  He  died  in  1691,  leaving  a  minor  son,  Joseph, 
the  third  of  the  name,  who  inherited  the  homestead,  Jonathan  Remington  ad- 
ministrating for  him.    He  was  a  farmer  and  married  Eunice  ,  and  died  in 

1739,  aged  nearly  68,  a  little  more  than  a  week  before  his  son,  Joseph,  the 
fourth,  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Ebenezer  Stratton.  He  was  a  tanner, 
and  the  year  after  his  marriage  he  sold  the  homestead  to  the  husband  of  his 
sister  Eunice,  Ebenezer  Bradish,  and  moved  across  the  river,  residing  on 
its  south  side  the  remainder  of  his  life.  So  the  Cookes  lived  here  more  than 
a  full  century,  for  the  Bradish  family  owned  and  occupied  the  property  un- 
til they  bought  "The  Blue  Anchor  Tavern"  on  Boylston  street,  in  1749,  and 
went  to  live  there. 

Dr.  Holyoke,  president  of  Harvard  College  from  1737-1769,  bought  this  es- 
tate some  time  before  his  death  to  provide  a  suitable  residence  for  his  wife, 
should  she  survive  him.  Mrs.  Holyoke  occupied  the  house,  thus  thoughtfully 
provided  for  her,  when  she  became  a  widow.  The  next  occupant  was  Profes- 
sor Eliphalet  Pearson,  whose  wife  was  a  daughter  of  President  Holyoke. 
From  this  house  Dr.  Pearson  removed  to  the  Holmes  house,  Holmes  place. 
Dr.  Tappan  moving  into  the  Holyoke  house.  He  was  professor  from  1792  to 
1803,  and  probably  hired  the  house  from  the  Winthrop  family.  Following  Dr. 
Tappan,  came  Mrs.  Hilliard,  widow  of  Rev.  Timothy  Hilliard,  who  hired  the 
house  of  Judge  James  Winthrop.  She  left  it  to  live  with  Judge  Winthrop  as 
his  housekeeper.  William  Winthrop,  Esq.,  then  moved  into  the  vacant  house 
and  made  a  number  of  alterations  in  it.  Dr.  Harris'  notes  say:  "William 
Winthrop  removed  the  old  cills  and  roof  of  the  Holyoke  house,  the  cills 
formerly  projected  into  the  rooms  round  the  sides,  raised  the  house  and  put 
in  new  cills;  added  the  third  storey  and  put  on  the  present  roof  instead  of  the 
old  gambrll  roof.  He  bought  the  place,  it  is  supposed,  of  his  brother,  Judge 
James  Winthrop."  Here  he  lived  tmtil  about  1811,  when  he  sold  the  p'.ace  to 
Professor  Willard,  who  lived  here. 

After  the  Willards,  the  house  changed  hands  many  times.  Mr.  Charles 
Folsom  lived  in  it  at  one  time,  and  later  Mrs.  Derby.  The  estate  had  been 
reduced  in  the  course  of  years  until  there  was  only  enough  land  for  the 
house,  barn  and  a  moderate  sized  garden.  It  finally  passed  into  the  hands 
of  Mr,  Valentine,  who  lived  here  until  a  few  years  ago,  later  it  was  sold  to  a 
college  club.  In  1905,  the  old  house  was  taken  down  and  a  brick  building  for 
a  clubhouse  has  been  erected  on  its  site. 

Professor  Willard  is  Dr.  Harris'  authority  for  the  tradition  that  the  old 
bouse  was  built  in  1668  upon  the  site,  or  nearly  so,  of  the  first  Cooke  house. 
When  the  workmen  were  removing  the  lionse,  a  portion  of  the  collar 
wall  was  seen  to  be  much  older  than  the  greater  part  of  it,  being  formed  en- 
tirely of  large  unhewn  stones,  probably    the    foundations    of   the   first   house. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  75 

Tlie  early  occupants  of  the  house  planted  an  apple  orchard  south  of  the  house 
and  home  garden,  vestiges  of  which  long-  remained  on   the  estates  into   which 
the  place  was  divided.    The  trees  were  of  astonishing  size  and  were  said  to 
have  been  of  the  famous  Blackstone  stock.  E.  H. 

GOODWIN-SAMUEL  SHEPAED  HOUSE.    (A28a.) 

There  were  three  houses  on  the  east  side  of  Holyoke  street,  between  Harvard 
and  Mount  Auburn  streets.  The  corner  one  belonged  to  William  Good- 
win in  1632,  who  was  a  ruling  elder  and  prominent  person  in  Hartford,  where 
he  went  with  the  Hooker  colony.  Afterward  he  removed  to  Hadley,  but  re- 
turned to  Connecticut  and  died  at  Farmington,  in  1673,  leaving  an  only  child, 
wife  of  John  Crowe.  When  the  second  colonists  came  to  Newtowne,  this  house 
was  bought  by  Samuel  Shepard,  the  half-brother  of  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  who 
was  very  helpful  in  establishing  the  college.  Later,  he  went  to  England  and 
entered  Cromwell's  army,  and  is  thought  to  have  died  in  Ireland,  in  1673. 

The  middle  house  (A29a)  belonged  to  John  White  In  1632.  He  was  one  of  the 
first  townsmen  or  selectmen,  he  also  went  with  Hooker  to  Hartford  and  later 
was  one  of  the  sixty  who  agreed  to  settle  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
died,  in  1683.  Nicholas  Danforth  bought  his  estate,  and  Edward  Collins  owned 
it  in  1642. 

The  remaining  house  belonged  to  John  Hopkins  who  also  went  to  Hartford 
and  sold  to  Mark  Pierce.  Daniel  Gookin  probably  bought  all  these  estates  and 
lived  in  one  of  these  houses  until  he  built  the  house  on  Arrow  street.  Captain 
Samuel  Gookin,  grandson  of  Daniel,  lived  here  until  1760,  when  he  moved 
across  the  street.    Part  of  the  estate  was  bought  by  Rev.  East  Apthorp. 

M.  I.  .T.  G.  and  E.  H. 

"THE   BISHOP'S    PALACE"— APTHORP    HOUSE— CALLED    BORLAND 

HOUSE— GENERAL  ISRAEL   PUTNAM'S   HEADQUARTERS— 

BURGOYNE'S  PRISON  (A30). 

Between  Plympton  and  Linden  streets,  near  Massachusetts  avenue  (nearly 
opposite  the  entrance  to  Harvard  College  Library)  stands  one  oif  the  finest 
Colonial  houses  in  Cambridge,  with  its  old-fashioned  garden,  shaded  by  century- 
old  elms  and  chestnuts.  It  was  built,  in  1760,  by  the  Rev.  East  Apthorp  for  his 
bride,  Elizabeth  Hutchinson,  when  he  came  here  to  be  the  first  rector  of  the 
new  Christ  Church. 

Charles  Apthorp,  father  of  the  Rev.  East  Apthorp,  born  in  England  in  1698, 
married  Grizzell  Eastwicke,  in  Boston,  in  1726.  She  was  a  descendant  of  a  fine 
old  English  family.  Of  their  eighteen  children  (who  filled  two  double  pews  in 
King's  Chapel),  fifteen  grew  to  maturity  and  eleven  married  and  founded 
families  which  furnish  many  well  known  names  for  Boston  today.  The  eldest 
daughter,  Grizzell,  married  in  Boston,  March  2,  1746,  Barlow  Trecothick.    They 


76  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

went  to  England,  where  he  was  alderman,  and  later  lord  mayor  of  London.  The 
second  daughter  married  Thomas  Bulfinch;  to  her  diary  and  beautiful  letters, 
published  in  the  life  of  her  son,  Charles  Bulfinch,  the  architect  of  the  state 
house,  we  are  indebted  for  much  of  our  knowledge  of  the  Apthorp  family  rela- 
tions. Her  youngest  daughter  married  Joseph  Coolidge,  and  their  fine  house  was 
the  home  of  Madame  Susan  Apthorp  Bulfinch  in  her  old  age.  Charles  Apthorp 
was  a  prosperous  merchant,  and  was  also  paymaster  and  commissary  of  the 
British  forces  quartered  in  Boston,  and  was  probably  the  wealthiest  citizen  of 
Boston  in  his  day.  A  portrait  of  him,  by  Blackburn,  in  1758,  represents  him  as 
"an  elderly  gentleman  dressed  in  red  broadcloth,  with  black  silk  stockings,  sitting 
in  his  garden  in  Quincy,  looking  toward  his  house,  in  the  background  a  view  of 
the  old  Adams  mansion."  Blackburn's  portrait  of  Mrs.  Charles  Apthorp  is  that 
of  a  spirited  lady,  quite  equal  to  the  management  of  a  household  of  twenty, 
"dressed  in  a  changeable  salmon  and  green  silk,  cut  square  in  the  neck  and 
trimmed  with  lace."  In  1750  Charles  Apthorp  died,  and  many  sermons  were 
preached  about  his  virtues.  Even  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jonathan  Mayhew,  so  shortly  to 
become  the  bitter  adversary  of  his  son,  spoke  of  him  as  "a  merchant  of  the  first 
rank  on  the  continent,  an  upright  man  and  a  sincere  friend  to  religion." 

East  Apthorp  went  from  the  Boston  Latin  School  to  Jesus  College,  Oxford, 
England,  where  he  took  his  A.  B.,  and  in  1758  his  A.  M.  In  1759  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  a 
missionary  to  Cambridge.  Up  to  this  time  the  only  church  in  Cambridge  was 
the  old  First  Parish  meeting  house. 

The  Rev.  East  Apthorp  came  to  Cambridge  in  1759,  with  enthusiasm  for  his 
life-work  here.  His  wife,  Elizabeth  Hutchinson,  was  the  daughter  of  Eliakim 
Hutchinson  and  the  niece  of  Governor  Hutchinson,  then  judge  of  the  supreme 
court,  and  a  prominent  citizen.  Her  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Governor  Shir- 
ley, whose  home,  with  its  beautiful  garden  in  Roxbury,  is  still  to  be  found,  though 
long  since  shorn  of  its  beauty.  When,  in  1756,  Governor  Shirley  went  to  England. 
Eliakim  Hutchinson  bought  the  Shirley  house,  and  there  Governor  Shirley  came 
in  his  old  age  to  die  a  poor  man.  He  was,  with  Charles  Apthorp,  the  chief  pro- 
moter of  the  building  of  King's  Chapel,  and  his  name  is  under  the  corner  stone. 
Both  the  Apthorp  and  the  Hutchinson  families  were  cordially  interested  in  the 
growth  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  America.  "When  the  young  rector  built 
Apthorp  House,  he  came,  not  only  out  of  the  greatest  luxury  of  life  in  America, 
but  fresh  from  his  student  life  in  England,  and  with  a  knowledge  of  the  ele- 
gancies of  the  life  there  that  many  of  the  simpler  American  citizens  had  never 
possessed.  Apthorp  House,  after  all  the  vicissitudes  of  nearly  a  century  and  a 
half,  is  still  stately.  Its  rooms  are  spacious,  with  many  windows  and  deep  window 
seats.  The  chief  dining  room  has  a  fine  fire-place  with  the  original  blue  Dutch 
tiles.  The  carved  woodwork  is  especially  fine.  The  old  staircase  is  unchanged 
and  has  the  three  patterns  of  balusters  so  often  found  in  the  best  colonial  houses. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 


11 


The  Venerable  Andrew  Barnaby,  Archdeacon  of  Leicester,  England,  in  his 
"Travels  through  the  Middle  Settlements  of  North  America,"  1760,  p.  141,  says: 
"The  Eer.  East  Apthorp  is  a  very  amiable  young  man,  of  stirring  parts,  great 
learning,  and  pure  and  engaging  manners."  The  records  of  Christ  Church  bear 
proof  that  he  was  generous  in  his  gifts  to  it.  He  was  evidently  on  friendly  rela- 
tions with  the  college  authorities  and  remained  so.  After  the  fire  in  Harvard 
College  Library,  in  January,  1764,  President  Holyoke  appealed  for  help  to  supply 
the  loss,  and  the  general  assembly  of  New  Hampshire,  guided  by  Governor  Ben- 
ning  Wentworth,  made  a  gift  of  three  hundred  pounds  to  the  college  to  buy 
books.  A  catalogue  of  the  remainder  of  the  library  was  sent  to  the  Rev.  East 
Apthorp,  then  in  Croydon,  near  London,  with  the  request  that  he  should  buy 
books  according  to  his  own  judgment.  He  was  made  vicar  of  Croydon,  in  Surrey, 
England,  where  he  remained  twenty-eight  years.  He  had  one  son,  Frederick 
Apthorp,  prebendary  of  Lincoln,  and  seven  daughters.  His  sister,  Griselda  Tre- 
cothick,  wife  of  the  lord  mayor  of  London,  lived  for  some  time  in  the  neigh- 
boring village  of  Addington  "with  her  family.  Here  came  many  of  the  Tories  who 
had  been  driven  from  their  beautiful  American  homes.  We  read  in  Governor 
Hutchinson's  diary,  written  in  London,  March,  1776:  "By  appointment  at  Lord 
George  Germains,  I  presented  to  him  the  Rev.  East  Apthorp's  petition  in  behalf 
of  the  family  of  Mr.  Eliakim  Hutchinson."  September,  1776:  "Dined  at  Croydon, 
at  Mr.  Apthorp's  house.  Judge  Oliver  and  Miss  Fanny,  and  also  a  young  gen- 
tleman, Ives— now  Trecothick,  heir  of  Alderman  Trecothick."  Governor  Hutch- 
inson writes  of  meeting  Apthorp  in  Croydon  "much  altered  in  his  principles  since 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Apthorp  says  now  America  must  be  subdued 
before  there  can  be  any  concessions."  Governor  Hutchinson  was  buried  at  Croy- 
don, in  1780,  beside  his  favorite  daughter,  Peggy.  To  Croydon  came  also  Mrs. 
Eliakim  Hutchinson  and  her  daughters  Katy  and  Frances.  Elizabetli  Hutchin- 
son (Mrs.  East  Apthorp)  died  in  1782,  her  son,  Frederick,  and  seven  daughters, 
surviving  her.  In  1787,  the  Rev.  East  Apthorp  married  Anne,  the  daughter  of 
John  Crich,  Esq.  She  had  one  daughter,  and  made  a  pleasant  home  for  his 
daughters  by  the  first  wife. 

In  1807  Mrs.  Bulfinch  writes  to  her  brother  to  ask  for  a  silhouette.  She  has 
recently  heard  through  a  friend  whom  she  had  sent  to  her  brother,  with  a  letter 
of  introduction,  and  she  writes:  "Of  my  brother  he  speaks  with  enthusiasm — 
even  his  erect  figure  and  e:xpressive  countenance  greatly  interested  him — and 
much  more  the  cheerful  piety  of  his  heart  and  the  valuable  acquirements  of  his 
mind."  In  response  to  the  letter,  a  silhoiiette  of  East  Apthorp  was  sent  to  Mrs. 
Bulfinch,  and  a  copy  of  this  now  hangs  in  the  Christ  Church  vestry. 

In  1796,  East  Apthorp  was  made  a  prebendary  of  St  Paul's  Cathedral  and  had 
the  oifer  of  the  bishopric  of  Kildare.  The  latter  he  was  obliged,  by  ill  health,  to 
decline.  The  positions  given  him  in  England  show  him  to  have  been  a  man  of 
unusual  talent  and  well  fitted  to  be  a  bishop  in  America,    had   America  been 


78  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

ready  to  receive  one.  In  the  Political  Register  of  1769,  is  a  picture  entitled  "An 
Attempt  to  Land  a  Bishop  in  America,"  a  caricature  showing  the  feelings  of 
many  of  the  people  here  toward  the  English  Church. 

The  Rev.  East  Apthorp  returned  to  England  in  1764  and  in  November  of  that 
year  he  appointed  Charles  Ward  Apthorp  and  George  Apthorp  his  attorneys,  to 
sell  his  share  of  the  stock  in  trade  of  his  father,  Charles  Apthorp,  the  late  Boston 
merchant,  and  to  sell  his  dwelling  house  in  Cambridge,  for  the  best  possible 
price.  May  15,  1765,  Apthorp  House  was  sold  for  one  thousand  pounds  to  John 
Borland,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  who  occupied  it  -with  his  family  until  the  troubles  pre- 
ceding the  Revolution  obliged  this  staunch  Tory  to  leave  Cambridge.  His  prop- 
erty was  confiscated.  During  the  occupancy  of  John  Borland,  Apthorp  House 
was  kept  in  its  original  splendor.  John  Borland  married  Anna  Vassall,  his  step- 
mother's daughter  on  February  20,  1750,  and  their  twelve  children  filled  the 
spacious  rooms  of  Apthorp  House  with  life.  He  was  a  prominent  member  of 
King's  Chapel,  and  later  of  Christ  Church,  Cambridge.  Two  of  his  children, 
Samuel,  bom  in  December,  1765.  angi  Thomas,  born  in  June,  1767,  were  baptized 
in  Christ  Church.  His  oldest  son,  John  Lindall,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1772, 
while  the  family  were  living  in  Apthorp  House,  and  was  later  lieutenant-colonel 
in  the  British  army.  Francis  also  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1774.  John  Bor- 
land's daughter,  Jane,  married  Jonathan  Simpson,  Jr.  John  Borland  died  in 
Boston  in  1775.  "His  death  was  occasioned  by  the  breaking  of  a  ladder  on  which 
he  stood  leading  from  the  garrett  to  the  top  of  his  house."  He  belonged  to  the 
little  group  of  Tories  described  by  Mada«ie  Riedesel  as  sharing  together  such  a 
delightful  life— "living  in  prosperity,  united  and  happy  until  alas,  this  ruinous 
war  severed  them  and  left  all  their  houses  desolate."  Troops  were  lodged  in 
this  house  before  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  In  the  journals  of  the  committee  of 
safety,  we  find  references  to  the  looting  of  the  rich  wine  cellars,  and  hoTV  the 
strong  firelocks  found  were  confiscated  greedily  but  "appraised  conscientiously." 

"May  15,  1775,  Resolved:  That  Mr.  Borland's  house  be  appropriated  for  the 
use  of  the  committee  of  safety,  and  the  quarter-master  is  directed  to  provide 
quarters  for  the  troops  now  lodged  at  said  house.  Voted,  that  the  quarter-master 
be  directed  to  remove  as  many  of  the  three  companies  now  at  Mr.  Borland's 
house  to  the  house  of  Dr.  Kneeland  as  the  house  can  accommodate,  and  that 
Mr.  Borland's  house  be  cleared  and  cleansed  as  soon  as  possible."  On  the  same 
day  it  was  voted  that  "the  cleaning  Mr.  Borland's  and  Mr.  Vassall's  houses  be 
suspended  till  further  orders." 

Through  the  Revolution,  the  house  was  in  possession  of  the  patriots  and  put 
to  various  uses.  Its  most  distinguished  guest  came  after  the  surrender  of  Sara- 
toga. Abigail  Adams  writes  to  her  husband  in  1777:  "Burgoyne  is  expected  in  by 
the  middle  of  the  week.  I  have  read  many  articles  of  capitulation,  but  none 
which  ever  before  contained  so  generous  terms.  Must  not  the  vapouring  Bur- 
goyne, who  it  is  said  possesses  great  sensibility  be  humbled  to  the  dust?     He 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  79 

may  now  write  the  'Blockade  of  Saratoga.'  "  This  is  an  allusion  to  the  amuse- 
ments furnished  by  the  versatile  general  during  his  enforced  stay  in  Boston. 

General  William  Heath,  in  a  letter  to  George  Washington,  writes:  "We  are 
not  a  little  embarrassed  in  obtaining  quarters  for  the  British  oflBcers  who  fre- 
quently inform  us  that  they  are  to  be  'quartered  according  to  rank.'  General 
Burgoyne  is  in  Mr.  Borland's  house,  formerly  Putnam's  quarters,  and  the  other 
principal  otecers  in  the  town  of  Cambridge." 

Much  of  John  Borland's  Boston  property  was  lost  to  his  heirs  by  being  con- 
fiscated, but  the  Borland  house  fell  into  the  possession  of  Jonathan  Simpson,  Jr., 
husband  of  Jane  Borland,  who  purchased  it  for  one  thousand  pounds,  August 
10,  17S4.  In  the  Journal  and  Letters  of  Samuel  Cui-wen,  an  American  living  in 
England  from  1775  to  1783,  we  find  mention  of  "Jonathan  Simpson,  2d,  a  nephew 
of  Jonathan  Simpson,  1st,  who  married  Margaret  Lechmere  and  left  Boston  for 
Kensington,  England,  in  1775.  Jonathan  Simpson,  2d,  born  in  Boston,  1752,  was 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1772.  He  married  Jane,  daughter  of  John 
Borland.  He  was  a  refugee  and  was  proscribed  in  1778.  He  was  at  Charleston, 
S.  C,  as  commissary  of  the  British  army.  After  the  Peace  of  1783,  he  returned 
to  Cambridge  and  for  some  years  was  the  owner  of  the  large  Borland  estate,  and 
built  the  house  afterward  occupied  by  the  Warland  family."  He  died  in  Boston 
December  7,  1S34,  at  the  age  of  82,  leaving  five  daughters.  In  this  statement  of 
Samuel  Curweu  do  we  perhaps  find  who  added  the  third  story  to  Apthorp  House? 
The  tradition  is  that  it  was  built  for  the  slaves  of  John  Borland. 

Jonathan  Simpson  described  the  mansion  house  as  "where  I  now  live."  He 
was  Senior  Warden  in  Christ  Church  from  1791  to  1796,  and  was  one  of  the 
parish  delegates  to  the  fii'st  convention,  in  1795.  Influenced,  no  doubt,  by  the 
general  boom  in  real  estate  (caused  largely  by  the  opening  of  the  new  bridge  in 
1793),  Simpson  divided  the  estate  into  house  lots  and  what  are  now  Linden  and 
Plympton  streets  were  laid  out  through  his  property.  Next  a  series  of  mort- 
gages were  laid  on  the  estate,  and  in  1802,  a  new  combination  of  owners  appeared 
— Timothy  Lindall  Jennison,  physician,  and  Thomas  Warland,  gentleman,  both  of 
Cambridge.  They  bought  the  different  mortgages,  and  lastly  paid  poor  Simp- 
son one  dollar  for  his  paper  title  to  the  mansion  house  in  said  Cambridge,  "now 
occupied  by  Mr.  William  Jenks."  Mr.  Jenks  was  lay  reader  and  treasurer  of 
Christ  Church. 

Almost  directly,  Warland  and  Jennison  appear  to  have  been  overcome  by  the 
ill  luck  which  haunted  the  old  house.  Mortgages  were  taken;  the  house  was 
divided  into  an  eastern  and  western  half,  with  great  minuteness  of  description. 
Warland  took  the  western  half  and  Jennison  leased  to  him  the  easterly  half  for 
one  thousand  years  "at  the  rent  of  one  cent  per  year— if  the  house  shall  so  long 
stand  and  endure." 

Captain  Thomas  Warland  (captain  in  the  Revolutionary  war)  therefore  came 
into  full  possession  of  the  house  in  1803.     His  son,  Owen,  graduated  from  Har- 


80  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

vard  College  in  1804.  His  oldest  daughter,  Elizabeth  Bell,  afterwards  wife  of 
Dr.  Samuel  Manning,  Jr.,  was  eighteen  when  her  father  bought  Apthorp  House, 
and  she  lived  there  until  her  death  in  1880,  "a  lady  of  the  old  school  of  the  best 
type."  Her  sister,  Mary  Bell,  married  Dr.  Sylvanus  Plympton.  The  sisters  and 
their  children  shared  the  house  for  more  than  seventy  years.  In  the  map  of 
Cambridge  in  1873,  the  land  bears  the  names  Elizabeth  Bell  Manning  on  the 
west  half,  and  on  the  east  half,  Mrs.  L.  W.  Spalding,  Mary  E.  Young,  Helen  N. 
Niles,  one-third  each.  In  fact,  for  nearly  a  century  Apthorp  House  was  in  the 
possession  of  Thomas  Warland  and  his  heirs.  Three  generations  of  his  family 
— his  daughter,  Elizabeth  Bell,  his  grand-daughter  (the  daughter  of  Mary 
Bell)  and  his  step-great-grand-daughter,  Mary  Cleveland,  who  married  Professor 
Allen — all  stood  as  brides  in  the  same  spacious  drawing  room. 

In  March,  1897,  a  decided  change  came  to  the  old-fashioned  garden.  A  tract 
©f  land  on  Bow  street  was  sold  by  the  Warland  heirs  (Joshua  and  Mai-y  Young, 
Henry  G.  Spalding  and  Lucy  Spalding,  William  and  Helen  Niles)  to  the 
Coolidge  heirs  (Archibald  Cary  Coolidge,  H.  C.  Coolidge  and  others),  the  newly 
organized  Randolph  Land  Trust,  and  Randolph  Hall,  a  fine  brick  dormitory,  was 
erected.  A  handsome  iron  fence  was  built  around  the  box-bordered  garden,  and 
in  May,  1901,  more  land  was  bought,  the  dormitory  turned  the  corner  on  Plymp- 
ton street,  and  the  garden  became  a  court-yard  between  the  high  brick  walls  of 
the  elegant  modern  dormitory  and  the  still  homelike,  yellow  colonial  house.  In 
1901  the  heirs  of  Thomas  Warland  gave  up  their  title  and  the  descendants  of 
Susan  Apthorp  Bulfinch,  East  Apthorp's  sister,  possessed  the  Bishop's  palace. 
It  appears  in  the  catalogue  of  Harvard  College  as  a  dormitory  for  students, 
under  the  name  of  Apthorp  House.  S.  C.  E. 

Much  of  this  information  regarding  the  Apthorp  House  was  kindly  furnished 
by  Samuel  Francis  Batchelder,  Esq. 

THE    GOOKIN-OLIVER-PHIPS-WINTHROP-McKAT   HOUSE.    (A  31.) 

The  house  known  for  almost  a  century  as  the  Winthrop  House  still  stands 
on  the  southerly  side  of  Arrow  street  near  the  easterly  angle  of  Bow  street. 
It  occupies  the  site  of  a  much  older  historic  house,  which  was  erected  by 
Major-General  Gookin,  one  of  the  most  active  and  useful  of  the  early  settlers 
of  the  town.  In  1621,  Daniel  Gookin  is  said  to  have  emigrated  with  his  father 
from  the  county  of  Kent,  England,  to  Virginia  and  probably  came  from  that 
state  to  Boston  in  1644,  in  which  year  he  was  admitted  freeman.  He  settled  in 
Cambridge  in  1647.  Dr.  Holmes  writes:  "His  arrival  was  very  opportune  for 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Eliot,  the  Indian  apostle,  who  was  now  preparing  himself  for 
his  great  M^ork  of  evangelizing  the  Indians.  Mr.  Gookin,  animated  with  an 
apostolical  zeal  for  the  promotion  of  this  pious  design,  vigorously  co-oper- 
ated with  Mr.  Eliot  in  its  execution.  He  himself  informs  us  that 
Mr.  Eliot  was  his  neighbor  and  intimate  friend,  at  the  time  when  he 
first  attempted  this  enterprise  and  communicated  to  him  his  design."    In  Mr. 


WILLIAM  WINTHROP  HOUSE 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  81 

Eliot's  evangelizing  visits  to  the  Indians,  Mr.  Gookin  so  often  accompanied 
him  that  he  is  said  to  have  been  his  "constant,  pious  and  persevering'  com- 
panion." 

Soon  after  Mr.  Gookin's  arrival,  he  was  appointed  captain  of  the  military 
company  in  Cambridge  and  a  member  of  the  house  of  deputies.  In  1652,  he 
was  elected  assistant,  and  a  few  years  after  was  appointed  by  the  general  court 
superintendent  of  all  the  Indians  who  had  submitted  to  the  government  of 
Massachusetts,  which  office  he  held  with  little  interruption  till  his  death. 
In  1663,  he  was  appointed,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Mitchel,  one  of  the  "li- 
censers" of  the  printing  press;  and  ten  years  after,  major  of  Middlesex  regi- 
ment. Through  King  Philip's  war  he  was  very  active  in  raising  and  fur- 
nishing troops,  and  in  1681  was  appointed  major-general  of  the  colony.  We 
are  told  that  General  Gookin  was  a  man  of  keen  intelligence,  irascible  tem- 
per, strict  in  his  religious  and  political  principles;  of  inflexible  integrity,  dis- 
interested and  benevolent,  a  stout  friend  and  firm  patriot.  To  the  Indians 
he  was  ever  devoted  and  they  lamented  his  death   with  unfeigned  sorrow. 

By  Cromwell,  General  Gookin  was  trusted  and  respected  and  was  chosen  by 
him  to  assist  in  developing  his  favorite  project,  that  of  transplanting  a 
colony  from  New  England  to  Jamaica.  Twice  Gookin  visited  England,  pre- 
sumably on  public  business,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  on  his  last 
passage  from  the  old  country  he  was  accompanied  by  the  regicides,  Goffe  and 
Whalley,  who  came  with  him  to  Cambridge  and  were  sheltered  by  him.  For 
this,  and  as  the  custodian  of  their  slender  funds,  he  was  denounced  by  Ran- 
dolph. 

With  Thomas  Danforth,  General  Gookin  resolutely  and  ably  defended  the 
chartered  rights  of  the  colonists  during  the  contest  which  followed  the  re- 
storation of  Charles  II.  In  the  maintenance  of  religious  principles,  he  was 
as  autocratic  as  in  civil  affairs  and  was  one  of  the  sternest  judges  of  the 
disorderly  acts  of  the  Quakers.  His  early  home  in  Cambridge  was  on  the 
easterly  side  of  Holyoke  street,  then  Crooked  street,  between  Massachusetts 
avenue  and  Mount  Auburn  street,  where  he  lived  until  he  built  and  occupied 
the  house  on  the  southerly  side  of  Arrow  street,  designated  by  him  in  his 
will  as  his  "mansion  house."  Here,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five,  his  good  and 
useful  life  came  to  an  end  on  March  19,  1687,  and  his  body  was  laid  to  rest 
in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  old  burying  ground,  where  his  tomb  may  still 
be  identified.  It  is  not  known  who  General  Gookin's  first  wife  was.  He  mar- 
ried, in  1639,  Mary  Dolling,  of  St.  Dunstan  in  the  West,  London,  who  was  the 
mother  of  his  children.  After  her  death,  in  1681,  he  married  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Edward  Tyng  and  widow  of  Habijah  Savage,  who  survived  him. 
His  second  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married  Rev.  John  Eliot,  Jr.  He  died  in 
1668,  and  in  1680  she  married  Edmund  Quincy,  and  was  the  mother  of  Ed- 
mund  Quincy,   Esq.,   who   died   in   London    in    1738.    Rev.    Nathaniel    Gookin, 

6 


8%  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

third  son  of  General  Gookin,  was  minister  of  the  First  Church  of  Cambridge. 
He  is  said  to  have  lived  in  the  mansion  house.    He  died  in  1692. 

The  next  owner  of  the  estate  was  Dr.  James  Oliver,  an  eminent  physician, 
whose  wife  was  Mercy,  daughter  of  Dr.  Samuel  Bradstreet  and  grand- 
daughter of  Governor  Bradstreet.  His  daughter,  Sarah,  probably  born  in  this 
house,  married  Jacob  Wendell,  an  eminent  merchant  of  Boston,  in  1714,  and 
from  her  many  distinguished  persons  are  descended.  Dr.  Oliver  died  in  1703, 
and  his  widow  in  1710,  leaving  her  children  in  the  guardianship  of  her  cousin, 
Hev.  William  Brattle. 

The  next  owner  of  the  Gookin  estate  was  Lieutenant-Governor  Spencer 
Phips.  He  was  the  son  of  Dr.  David  and  Rebecca  (Spencer)  Bennett,  of 
Rowley,  and  had  been  adopted  by  Governor  Phips,  whose  wife  was  Mrs. 
Bennett's  sister.  Spencer  Phips  had  bought  the  Haugh  farm  in  1706,  and 
settled  there.  It  consisted  of  more  thon  three  hundred  acres,  embracing  the 
whole  of  East  Cambridge  and  the  northeasterly  part  of  Cambridgeport.  In 
1714,  however,  the  Oliver  estate  being  offered  for  sale,  he  bought  it 
and  moved  into  the  house.  He  immediately  undertook  to  improve  and  em- 
bellish the  already  delightful  place,  his  wealth  enabling  him  to  furnish  it 
with  every  procurable  elegance  and  to  maintain  an  establishment  in  the  best 
style.  The  estate  extended  from  Arrow  street  on  the  north  to  the  river  on 
the  south,  the  house  facing  the  river,  with  a  wide,  level  lawn  commanding  a 
beautiful  prospect.  Life-sized  wooden  figures  of  Indians  gay  in  paint  and 
feathers  and  armed  with  bows  and  arrows  sentineled  the  principal  entrance 
to  the  grounds,  startling  the  casual  observer  and  frightening  children.  They 
held  their  place  for  many  years,  while  owners  came  and  passed  on,  and  the 
remembrance  of  their  fierce  and  life-like  appearance  endured  to  a  late  gen- 
eration. 

This  house  now  became  the  gay  social  centre  of  the  pre-Revolutionary 
days.  Probably  ten  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Phips's  eleven  children  were  born 
here.  Of  the  six  sons,  only  one,  Colonel  David,  survived  his  father.  Four 
of  the  daughters  married  noted  men  and  made  for  themselves  homes  in  Cam- 
bridge. Sarah  was  the  wife  of  Andrew  Bordman  and  lived  for  more  than 
forty  years  on  the  east  corner  of  Harvard  square  and  Dunster  street.  Eliz- 
abeth was  the  first  wife  of  the  elder  Colonel  John  Vassall  and  lived  in  the 
house  on  the  east  corner  of  Brattle  and  Hawthorn  streets,  Mary  married 
Mr.  Richard  Lechmere,  whose  house  was  on  Brattle  street,  comer  of  Sparks 
street,  and  Rebecca  was  the  wife  of  Judge  Lee,  whose  estate  adjoined  that 
of  Lechmere  on  the  west.  Colonel  David  Phips  married  Mary  Greenleaf,  of 
Boston,  in  1753,  and  his  seven  children  may  all  have  been  born  here.  He 
was  high  sheriff  of  Middlesex  and  resided  here  until  the  war  clouds  of  the 
Revolution,  in  1775  caused  him  to  slip  away  with  other  tories  and  make  his 
way  to  England.    The  property  was  confiscated,  but  King  George  smiled  up- 


MAP  B. 

56.  Barnabas  Lamson-Francis-Joshua  Gamage-Moses  Richardson-Royal  Morse. 

57.  Richard  Parks-John  Green-Nathauiel  ilill-Nathauiel  Hancock-Caleb  Gannett. 

58.  John  Meaue-Hastings. 

59.  William  Vassall-Rev.  Winwood  Sarjeant-Dr.  Benjamin  Waterhouse-William 

Ware. 
59a.  Old  Tavern. 

60.  Cooper's  shop. 

61.  Golden    Moore-Abraham    Hill-Deacon    Josiah    Moore-Dr.    Timothy    Lindall 

Jennison. 

62.  Henry  Prentice  House-Ireland-Fay  House-Radcliffe  College. 

63.  Prentice-Molly  Hancock  House. 

64.  Fourth  and  Fifth  School-house. 

65.  Christ  Church. 

66.  Rev.    Jabez    Fox-.Tonathan    Hastings,    .Tr.-General    Ward's    Headquarters- 

Holmes  House-Birthplace  of  Oliver  W^endell  Holmes. 

67.  Danforth-Foxcroft  Estate. 

68.  Crosby-Langhorne-Deming-Brattle  Estate. 

69.  Read  House. 

70.  John  Champney-Bridge-Plowers-Hill-Episcopal  Theological   School. 

71.  Adams  -  Bancroft  -  Remington  -  Belcher- Frizell-Vassall- Medical      Headquar- 

ters-Batchelder  House. 

72.  Col.  John  Vassall-Washington's  Hendquarters-Craigie-Longfellow. 

73.  Lechmere-Sewall-von  Riedesel-"English  Thomas  Lee"-Brewster. 

74.  Hooper-Waldo-.Toseph  Lee-Nicholls. 

75.  Marrett-Ruggles-Fayerweather-Wells. 

76.  Elmwood-Oliver-GeTry-Lowell-Hospital. 

77.  John  Vassall  Sen.  House. 


^a,ytrwttfur  HoMf.         CAMBftlTiGiG     IN    17  JS' 

MAP  3. 

(\   Joseph  Lee 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  83 

on  him,  and  rich  grants  in  England  compensated  him  for  the  loss  of  his  love- 
ly New  England  home. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1776,  Thaddeus  Mason,  whose  house  In  Charlestown 
had  been  destroyed  by  the  British,  the  day  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  re- 
moved to  Cambridge  and  established  himself  in  the  Phips  house  where  he 
lived  with  his  family  until  he  bought  the  Judah  Monis  house  on  Boylston 
street  ten  years  later.  Soon  after  graduating  from  Harvard  College,  in  1728, 
Mr.  Mason  was  appointed  private  secretary  to  Governor  Belcher;  later,  he 
was  made  deputy  naval  ofRcer  for  the  port  of  Boston;  deputy  secretary  of 
the  province  in  1734;  justice  of  the  peace  for  Middlesex  in  1749;  clerk  of  the 
court  of  sessions  In  1735  and  of  the  court  of  common  pleas,  an  office  he  held 
for  fifty-four  years.  He  was  also  register  of  deeds  for  several  years.  Mr. 
Mason  was  three  times  married.  His  first  wife  was  Rebecca  Williams,  de- 
scendant of  the  Leverett,  Addington,  and  Mosely  families;  the  second  wife  was 
Elizabeth  Sewall,  daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Elizabetk  (Alford)  Sewall;  and 
the  third  was  Anne  Fayerweather,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Hannah  (Waldo) 
Fayerweather. 

In  or  about  1811,  William  Winthrop,  youngest  son  of  Professor  John 
Winthrop,  bought  the  Gookin-Oliver-Phips  estate,  took  down  the  old  house 
and  built  on  its  site  the  present  house;  here  he  lived  until  his  death  in  1825. 
He  was  not  married.  Squire  Winthrop,  as  he  was  called,  served  as  town 
clerk,  selectman  and  senator  and  was  through  life  an  active  and  useful  cit- 
izen. He  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  in  1770,  and  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  of  which  his  brother.  Judge  Winthrop,  was 
one  of  the  founders.  After  Squire  Winthrop's  death,  the  estate,  much  cur- 
tailed, passed  through  many  hands.  Postmaster  Newell  was  one  of  its  sev- 
eral occupants.  In  1862,  or  thereabouts,  Mr.  Gordon  McKay  became  the 
purchaser  of  the  house  and  remaining  land.  He  added  the  one-storied  ad- 
dition on  the  west  side  for  a  music  room.  Mr.  McKay  sold  tlie  house  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  organization  and  it  is  now  occupied  by  the  Sisters  of  St.  Jo- 
seph who  are  employed  in  the  parochial  work  of  St.  Paul's  Church.  From  the 
time  of  Mr.  Winthrop's  occupancy  of  the  Gookin  estate  until  quite  lately  the 
house  has  borne  the  Winthrop  name.  A  small  strip  of  wharfage  on  the  river, 
about  opposite  the  house,  was  called  '  Squire's  wharf"  long  after  the  signifi- 
cance of  its  name  was  lost  to  most  of  those  who  heard  or  used  it. 

A.  L.  C.  B.  and  E.  H. 

BRATTLE  SQUARE. 

Brattle  square,  in  the  early  days  of  its  history,  was  very  different  from  what 
it  is  now.  Creek  lane  it  was  called  then,  and  the  water  of  Charles  river  came 
up  to  the  present  Brattle  street,  where  it  was  crossed  by  a  foot  bridge.    In- 


84  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

stead  of  the  broad  street  we  now  see,  a  narrow  grassy  lane  led  west  as  far  as 
Ash  street,  where  a  gate  opened  on  to  the  "Highway  to  Watertown."  Just 
when  the  gate  was  taken  away  and  the  road  laid  out  does  not  appear. 

THE  TOWN  SPRING. 

A  few  paces  west  of  the  square,  on  the  south  side  of  Brattle  street,  stood 
the  town  spring.  Tradition  says  it  was  valued  by  the  Indians  for  its  medicinal 
properties.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  was  famous  for  its  clear,  cold,  pure  water, 
within  the  memory  of  those  now  living,  long  after  the  low  brick  arch  that  once 
surmounted  it  was  gone  and  the  water  was  drawn  from  a  well.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  this  was  an  outlet  of  the  underground  river  that  is  said  to  run  under 
Cambridge  at  a  considerable  depth.  Wlien  Madame  Hannah  Winthrop  lived 
at  the  corner  of  Boylston  and  Mount  Auburn  streets,  about  the  time  of  the 
Revolution,  this  entry  often  occurred  in  her  journal:  "Walked  to  the  Town 
Spring  with  my  husband  before  breakfast."  The  site  is  now  covered  by  Brat- 
tle Hall. 

CROSBT-LANGHORNE-DEMING-BRATTLE    HOUSE.    (B68.) 

Just  west  of  the  spring,  still  stands  the  Brattle  House,  shorn  of  all  that 
once  made  it  beautiful.  It  serves  our  generation  as  the  Cambridge  Social 
Union,  where  the  humblest  of  our  citizens  can  drink  in  knowledge.  The  over- 
flow of  the  spring  formed  quite  a  good  sized  pond,  stretching  toward  the 
east.  There  was  an  island  in  the  centre  and  rare  and  beautiful  trees  and 
shrubs  surrounded  it,  interspersed  with  statues.  The  grounds  extended  to 
the  river,  and  west  as  far  as  Ash  street,  in  the  later  days  of  its  grandeur. 
A  mall,  or  walk,  was  laid  out  through  the  grounds  that  was  the  resort  of 
the  young  people.  It  was  the  show  place  of  New  England.  A  few  still  living 
remember  the  beauty  of  the  Brattle  grounds.  In  the  fifties  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, the  pond  was  filled  up  and  a  large,  square,  ugly,  wooden  hotel  was  built 
on  the  spot,  called  the  Brattle  House.  This  failed  of  its  purpose  and  was  used 
by  the  famous  University  Press  for  years.  From  its  doors  streamed  out  the 
great  flood  of  nineteenth  century  literature  that  made  Cambridge  famous. 

The  earliest  owner  of  this  estate  was  Simon  Crosby,  who  came  from  Eng- 
land in  the  "Susan  and  Ellen"  in  1634,  aged  twenty-six,  with  wife  and  son 
Thomas,  a  babe  eight  weeks  old  when  they  sailed.  Two  sons,  Simon  and 
Joseph,  were  born  here  and,  in  1639,  Simon  Crosby  died,  leaving  three  sons 
under  six  years  old.  Some  years  after,  his  widow  married  the  Reverend  Wil- 
liam Thompson,  of  Braintree.  Thomas  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1653,  became 
minister  at  Eastham,  where  he  founded  the  great  Crosby  family  of  the  Cape. 
Simon  was  the  first  innkeeper  In  Billerica  and  represented  the  town  in  the 
general  court;  Joseph  represented  Braiutree,  and  in  1690  was  appointed  to  lay 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  85 

out  that  town.  Simon  Crosby,  Jr.,  sold  the  homestead  to  Thomas  Lang- 
horne,  or  Longhorne,  butcher  and  town  drummer,  in  1652.  He  had  married 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Bartholomew  Green,  and  lived  here  until  his  death  in  1685. 
The  next  owner  was  David  Deming,  fence  viewer,  who,  in  1707,  on  his  removal 
to  Boston,  sold  the  westerly  end  to  Andrew  Belcher  and  the  easterly  part 
to  Rev.  William  Brattle.  Doming-  is  called  in  the  deed  a  "knacker,"  an 
old  word  for  ropemaker. 

Rev.  William  Brattle  was  minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Cambridge 
from  169S  until  his  death  in  1717.  He  was  the  son  of  Thomas  and  Elizabeth 
(Tyng-)  Brattle,  was  born  in  Boston  in  1662,  and  graduated  from  Harvard  in 
1680.  There  were  four  other  graduates.  Rev.  Richard  Martyn  and  Rev.  Per- 
cival  Green  (who  were  both  settled  at  Wells,  Maine),  John  Leverett  and 
James  Oliver,  who,  with  Mr.  Brattle,  lived  and  labored  in  Cambridge  and  to- 
gether did  much  for  the  parish  and  college.  Oliver  and  Brattle  were  cousins, 
and  Peter  Oliver,  an  older  brother  of  James,  had  married  Elizabeth  Brattle,  au 
older  sister  of  his  friend.  James  Oliver  was  a  physician  and  lived  in  the 
Winthrop  House.  In  1685,  both  Leverett  and  Brattle  were  made  tutors  and 
worked  together  for  ten  years.  In  1692,  both  received  the  degree  of  bachelor 
of  divinity  and  the  same  year  were  made  members  of  the  college  corporation. 
Both  favored  the  establishment  of  the  Brattle  Street  Church,  in  Boston, 
and,  in  the  troublous  three  years  that  followed,  both  names  were  struck 
off  the  college  rolls  and  both  restored  in  1700.  In  1713,  both  were  elected  mem- 
bers of  the  Royal  Society  of  London. 

In  1691,  when  the  small-pox  broke  out  in  the  college,  Mr.  Brattle,  who  had 
never  had  the  dread  disease,  stayed  to  nurse  the  students,  took  it  and  retired 
to  bed  "to  Live  or  Die  as  God  should  please  to  order  him."  He  recovered  and 
thenceforth  the  scholars  called  him  the  "Father  of  the  College."  On  the 
death  of  his  elder  brother,  Thomas,  treasurer  of  Harvard,  in  1713,  Rev.  Mr. 
Brattle  succeeded  to  the  office,  which  he  held  for  two  years.  Under  the  two 
Brattles  the  revenue  of  the  college  was  tripled.  Leverett  had  been  president 
of  the  college  since  1707.  In  November  1697,  Rev.  William  Brattle  married 
Elizabeth  Hayman,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Hayman,  of  Charlestown,  by  whom 
he  had  two  children,  Thomas,  who  died  in  childhood,  and  William,  who  became 
heir  to  his  father  and  uncle.  After  the  death  of  his  wife,  Mr.  Brattle 
married  Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Gerrish)  Green,  widow  of  Rev.  Joseph  Green,  of 
Danvers. 

General  William  Brattle  was  born  in  the  parsonage  in  1706,  so  he  was 
only  eleven  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death.  At  seventeen  he  g'rad- 
uated  from  Harvard  in  the  class  of  1722.  At  twenty-one,  he  married  Kather- 
ine,  daughter  of  Governor  Gurdon  Saltonstall,  and  soon  after  his  marriage 
(1727),  began  to  build  the  house  shown  in  our  illustration.  It  is  of  two 
stories  with  gambrel  roof  and  attic.    A  hall    runs    through    the    house    from 


86  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

north  and  south  and  from  it  paneled  rooms  lead  off  on  both  sides,  on  the  first 
and  second  stories.  The  stairs  are  low  and  broad  and  the  banisters  are 
finely  chiseled  by  hand.  On  the  south  side  of  the  house,  a  long  line  of  sheds 
and  stables  formed  three  sides  of  a  quadrangle,  on  the  easterly  side  the  roofs 
were  curved.  It  was  quite  a  large  establishment  in  those  days.  The  present 
porch  and  piazza  are  recent  additions. 

General  Brattle  was  not  only  the  richest  man  of  his  time  in  Cambridge,  but 
was  also  the  most  versatile.  Sabine  says:  "A  man  of  more  eminent  talents 
and  of  greater  eccentricities  has  seldom  lived."  He  was  physician,  preach- 
er, lawyer,  attorney-general.  At  twenty-three,  he  was  made  justice  of  the 
peace  and  selectman,  holding  the  latter  office  twenty-one  years.  He  was  cap- 
tain of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company  and,  in  1758,  adjutant- 
general.  In  1771,  he  was  appointed  major-general  of  all  the  militia  throughout 
the  province,  and  from  that  date  the  British  government  had  no  more  devoted 
adherent,  though  up  to  two  years  before  he  had  seemed  to  favor  popular  rights. 

General  Brattle's  first  wife  died  in  1752,  and  of  his  nine  children  only  two, 
Thomas  and  Katherine,  lived  beyond  childhood.  His  second  wife  Martha, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Fitch  and  widow  of  James  Allen,  had  no  children.  She 
died  in  1753.  General  Brattle  had  long  been  an  overseer  of  Harvard  College, 
and,  in  1762,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  committee  to  erect  Hollis  Hall; 
also,  he  was  sent  to  Governor  Bernard  to  ask  him  not  to  grant  a  petition  for 
the    estabishment   of   a   new    college   in  New  Hampshire. 

One  of  Copley's  earliest  portraits,  painted  In  1756,  shows  General  Brattle 
in  tlie  full  uniform  of  an  oflScer  of  the  royal  army.  It  depicts  an  erect, 
stoutly  built  man,  probably  above  the  average  height.  He  was  fond  of  pop- 
ularity and  it  must  have  been  a  disappointment  to  him  not  to  have  been  made 
a  mandamus  councilor.  At  the  beginning  of  the  troubles  he  worked  for 
peace,  but  at  the  same  time  corresponded  with  General  Gage,  keeping  him 
informed  of  all  that  was  going  on  in  Cambridge.  One  of  these  letters, 
said  to  have  been  picked  up  in  the  streets  of  Boston,  was  printed  in  the 
"Boston  Gazette,"  and  on  September  12,  1774,  General  Brattle  defended  him- 
self in  the  same  paper.  After  this,  General  Brattle  found  it  expedient  to 
retire  to  Boston,  where  he  remained  during  the  siege  and  on  the  withdrawal 
of  the  troops  he  sailed  with  them  to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  died, 
October,  1776.  It  is  said  that  a  stone  in  the  burial  ground  there  marks  his 
resting  place.  He  gave  a  bill  of  sale  of  all  his  property  to  his  son,  who  was 
then  in  England. 

The  Tory  owner  having  departed,  the  Brattle  House  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  patriots.  When  Washington  entered  Cambridge,  there  rode  in  his  suite 
his  first  aide-de-camp.  Major  Thomas  Mifflin,  a  Philadelphia  merchant,  who 
had  come  into  prominence  at  the  town  meeting  held  in  his  city  on  the  receipt 
of  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington.    He  had  said  on  this  ocacsion:  "Let 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  87 

us  not  be  bold  in  declarations  and  afterwards  cold  in  action.  Let  not  the 
patriotic  feeling  of  today  be  forgotten  tomorrow,  nor  have  it  said  of  Phila- 
delphia that  she  passed  noble  resolutions,  slept  on  them  and  afterwards  ne- 
glected them."  Major  Mifflin  was  soon  appointed  commissary-general,  an  im- 
portant office,  when  the  ragged  army  had  to  be  uniformed  as  well  as  fed.  He 
was  quartered  in  the  Brattle  House,  and  here  he  was  later  joined  by  his  wife. 

Major  Mifflin  was  thirty-two  years  old  at  this  time,  and  had  been  married 
eight  years  before  to  his  own  cousin,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Morris  Morris,  of  Phil- 
adelphia. He  was  a  fine  looking  man,  rather  under  the  average  height,  but 
athletic  and  capable  of  enduring  much  fatigue.  He  was  full  of  energy  and 
an  ardent  patriot;  though  a  Quaker,  he  longed  to  fight  and  did  take  part 
In  a  skirmish  at  Lechmere  Point.  He  was  fiuent  in  conversation,  affable  and 
cheery,  and  was  quite  a  favorite.  Mrs.  Mifflin  was  in  delicate  health,  but 
that  did  not  prevent  her  from  being  hospitable,  and  the  house  soon  became 
a  social  centre.  John  Adams  writes  of  dining  there  on  two  occasions;  once 
with,  his  wife,  and  another  time  when  on  his  way  to  sign  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  He  mentions  so  many  guests,  generals,  friendly  Indians 
and  officers  that  one  wonders  where  Mrs.  Mifflin  put  them  all  in  the 
rooms   that   seem   so   small    to  us. 

Dr.  John  Morgan  was  appointed  to  take  the  place  of  Dr.  Benjamin 
Church,  as  medical  director  and  surgeon-general,  and  drove  with  his  wife  from 
Philadelphia,  through  the  Jerseys,  then  over-run  by  the  British.  He  collected 
what  medicine  he  could  on  the  way,  and  arrived  here  in  November.  Dr. 
Morgan  and  hi.s  wife  were  both  Philadelphians,  but  not  Quakers.  They  be- 
longed to  St.  Peter's  Episcopal  Church.  Dr.  Morgan  studied  at  the  Universi- 
ty of  Edinburgh  and  was  the  founder  and  president  of  the  famoms  medical 
school  of  Pennsylvania.  His  wife  was  Mary  Hopkinson,  sister  of  Francis 
Hopkinson,  the  signer.  Her  mother  was  a  Johnson,  of  England,  cousin  of  the 
then  Bishop  of  Worcester.  Dr.  Morgan  was  born  in  1735,  so  that  he  was  rath- 
er older  than  most  of  the  officers,  and  had  been  married  ten  years.  Neither 
the  Morgans  nor  the  Mifflins  had  any  children.  Dr.  Morgan  was  a  remarkably 
handsome  man,  tall  and  intelligent  looking  and  did  fine  work  here  as  medical 
director.  Mrs.  Morgan  was  bright  and  witty.  Her  correspondence  Is  still 
preserved  in  the  Hopkinson  family,  and  to  it  we  are  indebted  for  glimpses 
of  life  in  the  Brattle  House.  Unfortunately  space  forbids  more  than  short 
quotations  from  her  pen.  In  a  letter  to  her  mother,  dated  November  29,  1775, 
after   saying   they   slept    at   Watertown,  she  writes: 

"Six  or  eight  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  faculty  came  to  wait  upon  Dr.  Morgan 
and  escort  us  to  the  camp,  some  of  them  on  horseback  and  some  of  them  in 
carriages.  I  do  assure  you  we  had  no  small  cavalcade.  My  good  friend, 
Mrs.  Mifflin,  met  us  on  the  way  in  her  chariot  and  conducted  us  to  her  house 
where  we  are  to  stay  until  we  are  settled   in  one  of  our  own.    *    *    ♦    Since 


88  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

I  have  begun  this  letter  I  have  had  the  honor  of  a;  visit  from  four  generals, 
General  Washington,  General  Putnam,  General  Gates  and  General  Lee. 
While  they  were  here  a  very  interesting  scene  happened.  There  arrived  an 
express  of  a  brig  being  taken,  belonging  to  the  enemy,  by  one  of  our  vessels. 
It  is  a  valuable  prize,  as  it  was  loaded  with  arms  and  ammunition.  What 
delighted  us  excessively  was  seeing  the  pleasure  that  shone  in  every  coun- 
tenanee,  especially  that  of  General  Gates." 

Mrs.  Morgan's  sister  was  the  wife  of  the  famous  Di*.  Jacob  Duche,  and  in 
a  letter  written  to  Mrs.  Duche  she  speaks  of  two  Frenchmen,  Messrs.  Pennel 
and  Pliarne,  who  had  just  arrived  in  Cambridge  with  a  supply  of  powder.  Dr. 
Morgan  had  gone  with  them  to  supper  at  headquarters,  where  they  were 
treated  with  every  mark  of  respect.  The  next  day  they  were  to  go  to  Phila- 
delphia and  would  take  her  letter.  She  wrote  that  Dr.  Morgan  wished  to 
introduce  them  to  the  Duches  and  says:  "Their  dress  and  address  bespeak 
them  gentlemen.  We  would  not  wish,  my  dear  Betsy,  that  should  you  be  put  to 
the  trouble  of  dining  them,  a  dish  of  coffee  the  Countenance  and  Conver- 
sation of  my  agreeable  brother  is  all  that  we  desire."  She  then  told  of  the 
capture  of  a  vessel  laden  with  West  Indian  goods  and  of  her  finding  among 
the  prisoners  Mr.  Burke,  the  lawyer  who  had  examined  into  her  mother's 
affairs  in  Antigua,  who  was  traveling  for  his  health.  He  had  with  him  let- 
ters to  the  Tory  gentlemen,  shut  up  in  Boston,  recommending  him  for  his 
loyalty  to  crown  and  parliament.  She  says  the  generals  treated  him  very 
well,  as  he  had  not  intended  to  take  part  in  the  fighting,  and  he  had  been 
entertained  by  General  Washington  and  was  going  to  dine  that  night 
with  the  Mifflins.  He  was  -^Tetchedly  accommodated  at  the  tav- 
ern, and  she  felt  so  sorry  for  him  that  she  meant  to  offer  him  a  bed  as  soon 
as  she  had  a  house  of  her  own.  We  do  not  know  how  long  the  Morgans 
remained  with  the  Mifflins  nor  where  else  they  lived  in  Cambridge.  They  were 
among  the  last  of  the  military  people  to  leave,  for  in  a  letter  dated  April 
9,  1776,  Mrs.  Morgan  says  the  army  is  all  gone,  but  they  must  remain  because 
Dr.  Morgan  has  to  take  care  of  the  medicine  captured  in  Boston.  She  finds 
it  very  dull  and  amuses  herself  with  tambour  embroidery  and  in  visiting  Dr. 
Uoyd.  She  begs  her  mother  to  be  particularly  attentive  to  Mrs.  Washing- 
ton and  Mrs.  Custis  when  they  arrive  in  Philadelphia;  "  they  were  to  me  aa 
mother  and  sister,  Mrs.  Gates  the  same." 

And  so  the  last  of  the  camp  passes  away  from  Cambridge  and  we  can 
imagine  with  what  delight  Mrs.  Katherine  Wendell,  General  Brattle's 
daughter,  widow  of  John  Mico  Wendell  since  1773,  came  to  look  at  the  house 
where  she  was  born,  now  empty  again.  She  was  living  on  what  is  now 
Massachusetts  avenue,  near  Wendell  street,  where  she  resided  until  her 
death,  in  1821,  In  her  ninetieth  year.  She  was  a  woman  of  strong  char- 
acter,  and    it    was   through    her   efforts    and    her   friendship    with    the    patriots 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  89 

that  the  Brattle  property  was  not  confiscated.  Her  brother,  Thomas  Brat- 
tle, born  here  in  1742  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1760,  was  in  England 
when  the  troubles  began  and  remained  there  for  several  years.  He  was 
much  admired  by  his  English  friends  for  seeking-  out  his  fellow  country- 
men, who  were  in  prison,  and  relieving  their  necessities.  Before  his  return 
to  this  country,  a  fine  portrait  of  the  "Man  of  Ross,"  celebrated  bj'  Pope, 
was  given  to  him  by  these  friends.  He  remained  in  Rhode  Island  until  the 
popular  indignation  against  his  father  had  subsided,  and  then  returned  here 
and  took  possession  of  the  estate.  He  enlarged  the  grounds  and  further 
beautified  them;  he  built  a  greenhouse,  one  of  the  first  in  the  country,  and  a 
bath  for  the  students  on  the  river.  He  did  not  marry  and  when  he  died, 
universally  lamented,  in  1801,  his  property  went  to  the  heirs  of  his  sister,  the 
children  of  her  daughters,  Martha  Fitch  Wendell,  who  married  Rev.  John 
Mellen,  and  Katharine  Wendell,  who  married  Rev.  Caleb  Gannett  in  1781  and 
lived  in  the  Brattle  House  for  a  short  time. 

After  the  Brattles  left  the  house,  it  was  let  to  a  succession  of  tenants 
and  passed  through  many  hands.  Timothy  Fuller  with  his  family,  including 
the  famous  Margaret  Fuller,  afterwards  the  Countess  d'  Ossoli,  lived  here  in 
1SC3.  From  this  house  they  moved  to  Groton.  It  was  long  used  as  a  stu- 
dents' lodging  house,  and  it  is  said  that  Thomas  Gold  Appleton,  Francis 
Boott  and  John  Lothrop  Motley,  all  of  the  class  of  1831,  roomed  here. 

The  old  house  still  stands,  a  mute  reminder  of  the  glory  of  its  past,  and 
lends  its  family  name  to  one  of  the  principal  streets  of  our  city. 

M.  I.  J.  G. 

THE  VILLAGE  SMITHY. 

After  the  death  of  Thomas  Brattle,  his  large  estate  was  sold  off  by  his  heirs 
in  small  lots.  Near  Story  street,  a  blacksmith.  Dexter  Pratt,  had  his  work- 
shop, a  low,  picturesque  wooden  building,  immortalized  by  the  poet  Longfellow 
in  an  early  poem  beginning: 

"Under  a  spreading  chestnut  tree 
The  village  smithy  stands." 

A  tablet  on  the  sidewalk  marks  the  spot  where  the  horse-chestnut  tree  stood. 
Both  tree  and  smithy  have  long  since  been  swept  away  by  the  march  of  im- 
provements. A  chair  was  made  from  the  wood  of  the  tree  and  given  to  Pro- 
fessor Longfellow  on  his  seventieth  birthday  by  the  children  of  Cambridge  and 
was  the  occasion  of  another  poem. 

STORY  AND  GREENLEAF  HOUSES. 

The  large  brick  house,  with  end  toward  the  street,  that 
stands  on  the  east  corner  of  Hilliard  street,   was   the   home   of  Judge  Joseph 


90  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

story,  who  was  professor  in  the  Harvard  Law  School  from  1829  till  1845. 
His  son,  William  Wetmore  Story,  celebrated  as  sculptor  and  author,  passed 
his  boyhood  here.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1838.  A  little  farther 
west,  still  on  the  south  side  of  the  street,  was  the  house  built  and  occupied 
by  Professor  Simon  Greenleaf,  also  of  the  law  school,  who  was  in  office 
from  1834  till  1848.  The  house  he  lived  in  was  moved  to  the  west  side  of 
Ash  street,  where  it  now  stands,  the  present  house,  now  belonging  to  Rad- 
cliffe  College,  having  been  built  by  his  son,  James  Greenleaf,  who  married 
Miss  Mary  Longfellow,  the  sister  of  the  poet. 

JOHN  TALCOTT. 

In  the  early  days  of  Newtowne,  this  neighborhood  was  called  the  west  end, 
and  the  westerly  part  of  the  Brattle  estate  was  granted  to  John  Talcott. 
The  record  reads:  "In  west  end  one  dwelling  house  with  garden  backside 
and  planting  ground,  about  three  acres  and  a  half;  the  highway  to  Water- 
town  northeast;  the  highway  to  Windmill  hill  northwest."  John  Talcott 
came  with  his  son  from  Braintree,  Essex  Co.,  England,  to  Boston,  Septem- 
ber 16,  1632,  in  the  ship  "Lion,"  In  the  company  brought  by  Rev.  Thom- 
as Hooker;  and,  when  the  Braintree  company  settled  in  Newtowne,  John 
Talcott  became  here  a  man  of  great  influence.  He  was  one  of  the  first  board 
of  selectmen,  1634-5;  a  deputy  to  the  general  court  in  1634;  and  was  elected 
twice  in  succeeding  years.  He  went  with  Hooker  to  Connecticut  and  helped 
found  the  city  of  Hartford.  John  Talcott  held  many  positions  of  trust  in 
this  new  colony,  was  a  chief  magistrate,  member  or  the  general  court  and 
treasurer  of  the  colony  until  his  death  in  1660,  when  his  son  succeeded  him. 

This  son,  also  John  Talcott,  was  one  of  the  patentees  named  in  the  charter 
of  Charles  II,  granted  to  Connecticut  in  1661,  and  was  concerned  in  hiding 
that  document  in  the  oak  tree  when,  in  1687,  James  II  tried  to  get  it  back. 
He  gained  renown  as  an  Indian  fighter  on  the  breaking  out  of  King 
Philip's  War.    His   son,   Joseph   Talcott,   was   governor  of  Connecticut. 

The  next  owner  of  this  easterly  corner  of  Brattle  and  Ash  streets  was  Thom- 
as Brigham,  constable  and  selectman,  who  came  in  the  "Susan  and  Ellen" 
in  1635.  He  died  in  1653,  and  his  widow,  Mercy  (Hurd),  married  Edmund 
Rice,  Sen.,  of  Sudbury,  In  1656,  and  removed  to  Marlborough,  taking  the  four 
Brigham  children,  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  with  her.  After  the  death  of 
Mr.  Rice,  his  widow  married  William  Hunt,  of  Concord,  whom  she  survived. 
Thus  the  noted  Brigham  family  of  Marborough  had  its   origin  here. 

The  Brigham  heirs  sold  the  estate  to  John  Hastings  in  1654,  the  year  in 
which  he  removed  to  Cambridge  from  Braintree.  His  wife  being  dead,  he 
married  Ann,  widow  of  John  Meane,  who  lived  on  Holmes  place.  His  two 
sons,  Walter  and  Samuel,  married  the  two  daughters  of  this  second  wife, 
Sarah  and  Mary  Meane.    A  third  son,  John,  who  was  probaibly  born  on  the 


BRATTLE  HOUSE.     Page  84 


READ  HOUSE 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  91 

passage  to  America,  as  he  is  called  "Saaborn,"  had  three  wives.  First,  he 
married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Francis  Moore;  secondly,  Lydia,  daughter  of 
Elder  Champney;  and  lastly,  in  1691,  Rabecca,  widow  of  Benoni  EatOin.  He 
was  a  tanner  and  the  father's  estate  was  divided  between  him  and  his  brother 
Samuel,  who  was  a  gunsmith.  Samuel  had  the  part  fronting  on  Brattle 
street  and  his  son  Stephen  sold  it  in  1707, 

THE  READ  HOUSE.     (B69.) 

The  quaint  old  house,  with  its  three  massive  chimneys,  of  which  we  give 
an  illustration,  is  on  the  opposite,  or  north,  side  of  Brattle  street,  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Parwell  place.  It  stands  well  back  from  the  street  and  has  a  garden 
in  front,  gay  with  the  posies  that  recall  other  days.  It  is  now  occupied  by 
Dr.  Stephen  W.  Driver,  and  has  been  in  his  family  since  1866.  The  house 
is  a  comfortable,  low-studded,  two-story  and  attic,  timber  building.  In  the 
great  chimneys  are  small  doors  opening  into  the  flue  where  hams  were 
formerly  hung  to  smoke,  and  in  the  cellar  may  still  be  seen  the  massive 
five-sided  ridge-pole,  with  mortise  holes  for  rafters  and  king-posts,  and  other 
heavy  beams,  probably  those  on  which  the  king-posts  rested.  These  were, 
without  doubt,  part  of  the  barn  that  stood  here  in  1650,  when  the  land  be- 
longed to  John  Appleton,  of  Ipswich,  who  sold  to  Thomas  Danforth  in  1655. 
Danforth  convej^ed  the  property  to  Richard  Jackson  in  August  of  the  same 
year. 

Richard  Jackson  was  selectman  in  1636.  He  died  without  children  in  1672, 
aged  ninety,  and  his  nephew,  or  grand  nephew,  sold  the  place  to  Captain 
Josiah  Parker,  who  commanded  the  forces  at  Groton  in  1706  when  the  Indians 
killed  the  men  "going  to  meeting  on  the  sabbath."  He  was  selectman  in  1710. 
We  do  not  know  that  he  lived  here,  but  in  1725  he  sold  the  land  to  James 
Read,  "who  came  from  Kent,  England,  and  lived  near  the  meeting  house  in 
1705,  and  who  owned  land  opposite,  on  the  south  side  of  the  street,  afterward 
included  in  the  Brattle  estate.  Probably  James  Read  took  down  the  old  barn 
and  built  the  present  house  soon  after  this  date.  He  died  in  1734.  He  had  mar- 
ried Sarah  Batson  in  1714,  and,  after  her  death,  Mary  Oldham,  who  was  the 
mother  of  his  only  child  who  lived,  James  Read,  Jr.,  who  was  bom  in  1723,  and 
inherited  the  house.  An  inscription  traced  in  the  wet  plaster  over  the  fire- 
place in  the  large  southwestern  chamber,  which  reads:  "James  Read,  May 
18,  1738,"  seems  to  indicate  that  the  plastering  of  that  room'  was  finished 
after  the  death  of  the  elder  Mr.  Read. 

James  Read,  Jr.,  married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Rev.  Joseph  Stacey,  of 
Kingston.  Her  grandfather  was  the  blacksmith  who  lived  at  the  junction 
of  Brattle  square  and  Boylston  street.  They  had  two  sons  who  lived,  James 
Read,  3rd,  who  was  born  in  1751,  and  Joseph   Stacey  Read,   born   in  1754,   and 


92  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

a  daughter,  Sarah,  who  married  Rev.  'William  Fessenden.  James  Read,  Jr., 
died  in  1770.  His  widow  and  sons  lived  here  through  the  Revolution.  James, 
the  eldest,  was  in  Captain  Thatcher's  minute  men  and  Joseph  enlisted  in  a 
private  company  at  that  time.  James  had  married  Elizabeth  Wait  in  1772 
and  had  a  son,  James  Read,  4th,  who  was  a  merchant,  and  spent  some  years 
in  Tobago,  but  returned  to  Cambridge  in  1809  and  died  here  in  1S28.  His 
father  died  in  1812.  Joseph  Stacey  Read  was  postmaster  and  lived  in 
Harvard  square  between  Dunster  and  Boylston  streets.  He  was  the  ancestor 
of  the  well  known   family  of  Reads  of  Appleton  street. 

When  Christ  Church  was  built,  one  hundred  feet  square  was  sold  from  the 
northern  part  of  the  Read  garden,  behind  the  house,  and  in  1826  the  estate 
was  sold  by  the  Reads  to  Levi  Farwell,  treasurer  of  Harvard  College,  who, 
the  next  year,  sold  It  to  Professor  John  Webster,  of  the  Harvard  Medical 
School,  who  lived  here  until  1834.  He  then  sold  to  Nathan  Russell,  Jr.,  of 
Lexington,  from  whom  it  passed  in  1S52  to  Tliomas  Joyce  White,  his  brother-in- 
law,  who  owned  it  until  1861.  D.  P.  Shaw  then  bought  it  and  sold  to  Mrs. 
Clarens,  Mrs.  Driver's  mother,  in  1S66. 

Beyond  this  house,  on  the  same  side  of  Brattle  street,  were  the  Munroe 
houses.  Deacon  James  Munroe  was  blacksmith  here  during-  the  Revolu- 
tion. Before  that,  Daniel  Hastings,  grandson  of  John,  the  tanner,  who  lived 
on  Ash  street,  was  the  blacksmith,  living  on  the  corner  of  Brattle  and  Mason 
streets.  He  sold  his  house  to  Dr.  Samuel  Wheat,  of  Needham,  in  1722,  and  re- 
moved  to  Marlborough. 

H.  E.  McI.  and  M.  I.  J.  G. 

CHAMPNEY-BRIDGE-BLOWERS-HILL  HOUSE.     EFISCOPAL 
THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL  (B70). 

On  the  north  side  of  Brattle  street,  corner  of  Mason,  stands  the  architectually 
handsome  group  of  buildings  belonging  to  the  Episcopal  Theological  School — St. 
John's  Chapel,  given  by  Robert  Means  Mason,  of  Boston,  in  memory  of  his  wife 
and  brother;  east  of  it,  on  Mason  street,  the  house  of  the  dean,  given  by  Mrs. 
George  Zabriskie  Gray;  and  to  the  west  the  dormitories,  Lawrence  and  Winthrop 
Halls;  Reed  Hall,  containing  library  and  class-rooms,  and  Burnham  Hall,  the 
refectory,  all  named  for  their  respective  donors.* 

Until  the  first  of  these — the  chapel — was  built,  in  1869,  a  rather  low  two-story 
house  stood  on  this  site,  facing  toward  Ash  street.  A  low  wall  of  great  round, 
whitewashed,  beach  stones  ran  in  front  of  the  house,  which  was  partly  hidden 
by  a  high  lilac  hedge.  The  rooms  were  low-studded  and  in  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  Mr.  Amory  says,  "had  painted  hangings  of  artistic  merit."  The  old 
fire-places  were  bordered  by  quaint  purple  Dutch  tiles.  This  was  the  Deacon 
Aaron  Hill  house,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 


♦Attention  is  called  to  the  hundred-year-old  tree  west  of  the  chapel.     It  is  a 
hybrid  walnut,  interesting  to  botanists. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  93 

The  origiual  grantee  of  the  land  was  John  Champney,  who  lived  here  in  1638, 
and  probably  his  three  children  were  born  here.  Mary,  his  daughter,  married 
Theophilus  Richardson,  of  Woburn,  and  was  the  great-grandmother  of  Moses 
Kichardson,  who  was  killed  by  the  British  on  Massachusetts  avenue,  April  19, 
1775.  John  Champney  died  before  1642,  and  his.  widow  married  Golden  Moore, 
her  nearest  neighbor,  who  lived  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Mason  and  Garden 
streets,  where  the  Shepard  Memorial  church  now  stands.  They  removed  to 
Billerica  and  the  estate  was  sold,  in  1650,  to  Deacon  John  Bridge,  whose  son, 
Matthew  Bridge,  probably  lived  here  with  his  wife,  Anne,  daughter  of  Nicholas 
Danforth. 

In  1672,  when  Matthew  Bridge,  who  had  removed  to  Lexington,  sold  it,  with 
four  and  a  half  acres  of  land,  to  Captain  Pyam  Blowers,  Eeuben,  son  of  the  un- 
fortunate James  Luxford  and  "Sister  Albone,"  lived  here.  Captain  Blowers  had 
married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  first  Andrew  Belcher,  landlord  of  the  Blue 
Anchor  Tavern  and  niece  of  Mrs.  Matthew  Bridge.  Captain  Blowers  and  his 
brother-in-law,  Andrew  Belcher,  Jr.,  owned  the  ketch  "Adventure"  in  partner- 
ship. 

Captain  Blowers  had  nine  children.  Five  died  in  infancy,  and  only  two  sur- 
vived him— Elizabeth,  born  in  1675,  who  married  Rev.  Thomas  Symmes,  of 
Bradford,  in  1701,  and  Rev.  Thomas  Blowers,  who  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1695, 
was  ordained  at  Beverly  and  married  Emma  Woodbury. 

May  29,  1709,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Blowers  died,  and  three  days  later  her  husband 
followed  her.  A  quaint  double  head-stone  in  the  old  burying  ground,  as  fresh  as 
if  erected  yesterday,  commemorates  these  who  in  death  were  not  divided. 

Rev.  Thomas  Blowers  sold  the  estate  to  Abraham  Hill,  mason,  in  1711,  who 
seven  years  later  brought  here  his  bride,  Prudence,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Han- 
cock, 3d,  of  Boylston  street.  The  Hills  had  eleven  children,  all  born  here.  Rev. 
Abraham  Hill,  the  eldest  son,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1737,  and  was  settled  at 
Shutesbury  in  1742.  He  incurred  the  hatred  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  was  dis- 
missed in  1778,  and  died  a  few  months  later,  at  Oxford.  Elizabeth,  the  fifth 
daughter,  married  Benjamin  Eustis,  in  1749,  and  was  the  mother  of  Governor 
William  Eustis,  who  was  born  in  this  house,  June  10,  1753.  Mrs.  Eustis  died  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  May  30,  1775.  December  27,  1754,  Abraham  Hill 
died.    Mrs.  Prudence  Hill  survived  him  twenty-two  years,  dying  January  16,  1775. 

The  spring  before  his  father  died  Aaron,  the  second  son,  married  Susanna 
Tainter,  of  Watertown.  He  followed  his  father's  trade,  as  m.ason,  was  deacon 
of  the  First  Church  for  twenty  years  before  his  death,  and  was  a  prominent  man. 
He  was  selectman  during  the  troublous  time  of  the  Revolution,  and  he  it  was 
who  was  appointed  at  the  March  town  meeting,  in  1776,  to  attend  upon  General 
Washington,  to  ask  him  what  lands  he  would  like  for  the  use  of  the  camp  during 
the  ensuing  year,  never  dreaming  that  within  a  fortnight  the  army  would  enter 
Boston  and  never  return  to  Cambridge.    Mr.  and  Mrs.  Aaron  HUl  both  died  in 


94  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

October,  1792,  of  the  dreaded  small-pox.  William,  their  younger  son,  who  grad- 
uated at  Harvard  in  1788,  died  at  Tobago  in  1790,  so  the  house  came  into  the 
possession  of  the  only  surviving  son.  Dr.  Aaron  Hill,  Jr.,  who  entered  the  con- 
tinental army  on  graduating  from  Harvard  in  1776.  He  served  a  year  and  a 
half,  and  then  studied  medicine  under  Dr.  Joshua  Brackett,  of  Portsmouth,  N.  H. 
— went  to  sea  as  a  surgeon  and  was  twice  taken  prisoner.  He  married  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Quincy,  the  refugee  solicitor-general,  later  became  a  mer- 
chant in  rortsmoutli,  but  on  the  death  of  his  parents  returned  here  to  live.  He 
was  selectman,  town  clerk,  representative,  senator  and  member  of  the  council. 
In  ISOS  he  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Boston,  and  held  that  office  for  about 
twenty  years,  after  which  he  returned  to  Cambridge  and  resided  here  until  his 
death. 

Dr.  Aaron  Hill  died  in  1830,  and  his  widow  in  1839,  leaving  a  son,  William,  and 
several  daughters.  His  son,  Thomas,  a  merchant,  died  at  sea  in  1813,  while  on 
a  voyage  for  his  health,  leaving  an  only  child,  ]\Iary  Timmins  Quincy  Hill.  Two 
of  Dr.  Hill's  daughters  married  Willard  Phillips — Hannah  Brackett,  in  1833,  who 
died  1837,  and  Harriet,  her  older  sister,  in  1838.  Another  daughter,  Susanna, 
married  John  P.  Todd,  paymaster  in  the  na'ST.  find  lived  until  1869,  when  she 
died,  childless. 

Professor  Joseph  Winlnck  took  the  house  in  July,  1858,  when  he  came  here  to 
edit  the  "Nautical  Almanac."  He  lived  here  one  year  and  here  his  daughter, 
also  distinguished  as  an  astronomer,  the  late  Miss  Anna  Winlock,  was  born. 

ASH  STREET. 

Ash  street,  already  mentioned  as  the  western  boundary  of  the  Brattle  estate, 
leads  to  the  river.  It  was  early  called  Windmill  lane  and,  after  the  Revolution, 
when  Thomas  Brattle  built  the  bath-house  for  the  students,  it  was  re-named 
Bath  lane.  "The  King's  Highway"  (now  Brattle  street),  from  this  point  to 
Elmwood  was,  before  the  Revolution,  called  Church  or  Tory  row. 

ADAMS-BANCROFT-REMINGTON-BELCHER-FRIZELL-VASSALL 
HOUSE,  MEDICAL  HEADQUARTERS   (B71). 

For  about  a  century  (1750  to  1850)  there  was  only  one  house  on  the  south  side 
of  the  highway,  between  Ash  street  and  Elmwood,  a  distance  of  three-quarters 
of  a  mile.  This  house  has  been  called  the  Vassall  House  since  1736.  It  is  still 
standing  on  the  easterly  corner  of  Brattle  and  Hawthorn  streets.  The  western 
end  of  the  house  is  very  old,  as  is  shown  by  the  eight-foot  square  stack  chimney, 
the  bricks  of  which  are  laid  with  pounded  oyster  shells  instead  of  lime.  It  may 
have  been  built  by  William  Adams,  to  whom  this  homestead  lot  was  granted 
March  12,  1635.  He  early  removed  to  Ipswich  and  his  lands  were  bought  by 
Nathaniel  Sparhawk,  a  dealer  in  real  estate,  who  sold  this  house  and  half  an 
acre  of  land,  in  1639,  to  Roger  Bancroft.     Bancroft  lived  here  until  his  death  in 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  95 

1653.  His  widow  married  successively  Martin  Saunders  of  Braintree,  1654, 
Deacon  John  Bridge  of  Cambridge,  1658,  and  Edward  Taylor  of  Boston. 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the  Vassall  estate  comprised  eight  acres,  the 
land  of  five  early  settlers  having  been  taken  to  make  the  garden  and  pasture. 
In  the  time  of  William  Adams,  the  acre  lot  east  of  his  land  was  occupied  by 
Robert  Parker  and  Judith,  his  wife.  Parker  was  a  butcher  and  gave  a  cow  for 
the  tuition  of  his  son,  John,  who  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1661.  He  sold  his 
house  to  Roger  Bancroft  in  1649. 

Next  east  of  this  house  was  the  homestead  of  William  Wilcox,  who  in  1646  sold 
his  home  to  Samuel  Green,  the  famous  printer,  and  died  in  1653,  leaving  a  legacy 
of  "twenty  shillings  to  my  loving  brethren  that  were  of  my  family  meeting,  viz: 
Roger  Bancroft,  John  Hastings,  Thomas  Fox,  William  Patten  and  Francis 
Whitmore." 

Bartholomew  Green,  the  father  of  Samuel,  had  lived  in  the  next  house,  at  the 
westerly  corner  of  Brattle  and  Ash  streets,  until  his  death  in  1638,  and  his 
wife,  "Widow  Elizabeth  Green,"  continued  to  live  there  until  her  death  in  1677. 
In  1684  Richard  Eccles  owned  the  corner  house  and  land,  and  later  it  belonged 
to  Samuel  Bull.  Ebenezer  Wyeth  owned  this  estate  when  he  sold  it  to  John 
Vassall,  Senior,  in  1741,  who  sold  it  to  his  brother,  Henry,  in  1747  and  it  then 
became  part  of  the  Vassall  garden. 

The  land  south  of  these  four  lots,  toward  the  river,  had  been  granted  to  John 
Masters  (who  built  the  canal  for  Lieut.-Governor  Dudley),  and  was  inherited  by 
his  daughter,  Elizabeth,  who  married  Gary  Latham.  The  Lathams  removed  to 
New  London  and  sold  to  Thomas  Crosby,  in  1645,  who,  the  same  year  conveyed 
this  land  to  Roger  Bancroft.  The  homestead  on  the  west  corner  of  Brattle  and 
Hawthorn  streets  belonged  to  Reuben  Luxford,  son  of  James,  whose  daughter 
Margaret  married  John  Pattin  or  Patten.  Their  son,  Luxford  Patten,  married 
Rebecca  Robbins  in  1727,  and  died  before  1730.  His  widow  sold  the  house  and 
an  acre  and  a  half  of  land  to  Col.  John  Vassall,  Senior,  who  gave  it  to  his 
brother,  Henry  Vassall,  in  1746. 

Thus  by  1747,  all  the  land  now  bounded  by  Longfellow  Park,  Brattle,  Ash  and 
Mount  Auburn  streets,  belonged  to  Henry  Vassall.  It  is  thought  that  in  this 
year  he  built  the  brick  wall  on  Brattle  and  Ash  streets,  which  when  Brattle 
street  was  widened,  in  1870,  was  moved  back  thirty  feet,  and  one  hundred  of 
the  tall  acacia  trees,  that  had  been  the  Vassall  hedge,  were  cut  down.  This 
wall,  which  was  a  landmark,  was  surmounted  by  a  coping  formed  of  heavy 
boards  like  an  inverted  V,  which  when  the  wall  was  rebuilt  was  replaced  by  the 
present  granite  coping.  The  garden  which  is  south  of  the  house  was  stocked 
with  fine  fruit  trees,  brought  from  England  and  France,  of  which  only  the 
ancient  purple  mulberry,  still  bearing  fruit,  is  now  to  be  seen.  Of  the  hawthorn 
hedge,  that  once  bordered  the  west  side  of  the  present  Hawthorn  street,  no 
trace  remains. 


96  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

This  estate,  containing  eight  acres  of  land,  was  left  by  Thomas  Marrett  to  his 
son  John  in  1664,  when  it  was  valued  at  fifty  pounds.  John  sold  the  house,  with 
five  acres  of  land,  to  Jonathan  Remington  in  1665.  Mr.  Remington  had  married 
Martha,  daughter  of  the  first  Andrew  Belcher,  in  1664,  and  probably  in  this 
house  all  his  nine  children  were  born.  His  son,  Jonathan,  Jr.,  was  Judge  of  tlie 
Supreme  Court,  and  one  of  the  most  noted  men  of  his  time.  The  elder  Jonathan 
Remington  served  in  King  Philip's  War,  was  selectman  and  town  clerk  for  four 
years  between  1693  and  1700.  He  died  April  21,  1700.  In  16S2,  Jonathan  Rem- 
ington, Senior,  conveyed  this  estate  to  his  wife's  brother,  Andrew  Eelcher,  for 
one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds.  Mr.  Belcher  lived  here  until  his  death  in  1717, 
leaving  the  house  to  his  son  Jonathan  (governor  of  Massachusetts  and  New 
Jersey  under  the  king),  who  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Lieut.-Governor  William 
Partridge  of  New  Hampshire.  In  1719,  Governor  Belcher  sold  the  estate  to 
John  Frizell,  a  merchant  of  the  North  End,  Boston,  for  two  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds. 

The  Frizells  lived  here  until  1736,  when  Mercy,  widow  of  John  Frizell,  con- 
veyed the  estate  to  John  Vassall,  Senior,  for  one  thousand  pounds.  This  seems 
a  sudden  increase  in  value,  but  while  the  estate  had  been  in  possession  of  the 
Frizells,  an  ounce  of  silver  had  risen  in  value  from  twelve  to  twenty-seven 
shillings. 

Colonel  John  Vassall,  third  child  of  Major  Leonard  Vassall,  was  born  in  the 
West  Indies  in  1713,  graduated  from  Harvard,  in  1732,  and,  in  1734,  married 
Elizabeth  Phips,  daughter  of  Lieut.-Governor  Spencer  Phips,  of  Bow  street. 
Here  their  three  children  were  born,  Ruth,  in  1737,  who  married  Edward  Davis, 
of  Boston,  and  died  January  23,  1774;  John,  born  in  1738,  and  Elizabeth,  born 
September  12,  1739,  who  married  Thomas  Oliver.  Ten  days  after  the  birth  of  this 
child  Mrs.  John  Vassall  died. 

In  1741,  John  Vassall,  Senior,  sold  this  estate  to  his  brother,  Colonel  Henry 
Vassall,  who,  January  28,  1742,  married  Penelope  Royall,  of  Medford,  and  brought 
her  to  this  house.  Two  children  were  born  here,  Elizabeth,  in  1742  (later  the 
wife  of  Dr.  Charles  Russell,  of  Lincoln)  and  Penelope,  who  died  young.  Col. 
Henry  Vassall  represented  Cambridge  in  the  General  Court  in  1752,  and  1756, 
and  died  March  17,  1769.  His  widow  continued  to  live  here  until  Cambridge 
became  the  headquarters  of  the  Continental  army,  when  she  removed  hastily 
to  Boston.  From  there  she  sailed,  with  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Russell,  to  Autigua, 
where  she  had  estates.  Just  before  sailing  Madam  Vassall  petitioned  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress,  then  sitting  at  Watertown,  that  she  might  be  allowed  to  take 
with  her  some  of  her  effects.  Congress  permitted  her  to  take  anything  that  she 
wanted  except  "provisions  and  her  medicine  chest."  The  estate  was  not  con- 
fiscated, as  it  belonged  to  a  widow  who  had  taken  no  active  part  against  the 
patriots. 

We  learn  from  the  records  of  the  Provincial  Congress  that,  at  this  time,  the 


VASSALL  HOUSE  — Medical  Heai.quakters.^^Inteiuor; 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  97 

Continentals  had  only  two  medicine  cliests,  one  in  Eoxbury  and  the  other  at  the 
house  of  Madame  Vassal!.  From  these  two  all  the  regimental  surgeons  had  to 
supply  their  needs.  The  fact  that  the  medicines  were  here,  and  that  there  were 
twenty  available  rooms,  besides  halls  and  out-houses,  may  have  been  the  reason 
that  this  house  became  the  medical  headquarters.* 

Dr.  Isaac  Foster  of  Charlestown  (1)  (great-grandson  of  William  Foster,  who, 
captured  by  the^  Turks  as  he  was  going  to  Bilboa  with  fish,  in  1671,  was  set 
free  through  the  prayers  of  Rev.  John  Eliot)  was  born  in  Charlestown,  in  1740, 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1758,  and  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  James  Lloyd  of 
Boston  and,  later,  in  England.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Middlesex  Convention, 
August,  1774,  and  member  of  the  First  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts^ 
October,  1774.  After  the  battle  of  Concord  he  gave  up  a  large  practice  and  came 
here  to  attend  the  wounded.  It  is  thought  that  he  and  Dr.  Church  lived  in  this 
house. 

To  the  patriot  army  in  Cambridge  and  especially  to  his  brother  surgeons  came 
a  great  blow  when  it  was  discovered,  October  3,  1775,  that  Surgeon-General 
Benjamin  Church,  one  of  the  medical  staff  quartered  here  and  a  trusted  member 
of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  was  holding  traitorous  correspondence  with  the 
enemy  in  Boston.  He  was  imprisoned  in  this  house,  where  on  a  door  in  a  room 
on  the  second  floor  (middle  window  in  the  illustration)  may  still  be  read,  cut  with 
a  penknife,  "B.  Church,  Jr.;"  from  this  house  he  was  taken,  October  27,  in  a 
chaise,  to  the  music  of  a  fife  and  drum  playing  "The  Rogue's  March,"  under 
escort  of  General  Gates,  to  Watertown  Meeting-house,  where  he  was  tried 
before  the  Provincial  Congress,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  condemned  to 
imprisonment  in   Connecticut,   "without  pen   and  paper."     This   was  later  com- 

*The  Second  Provincial  Congress,  at  the  instance  of  the  Committee  of 
Safety,  May  8,  1775,  created  a  committee  to  examine  surgeons  for  the  army. 
This  was  the  first  examination  of  the  kind  in  America.  Dr.  James  Thacher,  a 
surgeon's  mate  at  this  time,  in  his  Military  Journal  under  date,  July  17,  1775, 
records  that  these  examinations  were  very  severe  and  that  sixteen  candidates 
presented  themselves  before  the  committee.  The  committee  pro  tempore,  con- 
sisted of  Dr.  Benjamin  Church  and  Doctors  Taylor,  Holten  and  Dinsmore.  On 
June  2,  Doctors  Whiting  and  Bayliss  were  added,  and  on  June  16,  Doctors  Hall 
and  Jones.  June  22,  Dr.  Francis  Kittredge  was  appointed  to  attend  the  hos- 
pital, and  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  the  same  month  Doctors  Rand  and  Foster 
were  added  to  the  staff.  July  4,  1775,  Joseph  Hunt  was  appointed  mate  to  Dr. 
Joseph  Foster,  in  Cambridge  hospital.  There  were  to  be  two  surgeons  and  two 
mates  in  each  hospital.  July  7,  Dr.  Isaac  Foster  was  commissioned  "Surgeon 
of  the  hospital  at  Cambridge,"  and  July  27,  Surgeon-General  Benjamin  Church 
was  unanimously  elected  director  and  physician  of  the  hospital. 

(1)  "A  Bundle  of  Old  Letters,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  May,  1859,  gives  letters 
of  Dr.  Isaac  Foster  from  June,  1776,  until  December,  1779,  written  while  with 
the  army.  In  a  letter  written  October,  1775,  by  John  Warren  to  John  Hancock 
we  read  that  there  were  four  hospitals  in  Cambridge,  and  learn  from  another 
source  that  they  were  named  Washington,  Putnam  and  Lee,  the  fourth  being 
called  the  Convalescent  Hospital.  Drake  says  the  Phips  House  was  Hospital 
No.  2,  with  Surgeon  Dinsmore  in  charge,  but  who  were  the  directors  of  the  other 
hospitals  we  do  not  know. 


98  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

muted  to  banishment,  but  the  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  for  the  West  Indies  never 
having  been  heard  from,  he  was  without  doubt  lost  at  sea. 

Dr.  Isaac  Foster  expected  to  succeed  Church,  but  instead  Dr.  John  Morgan, 
the  first  President  of  the  Medical  School  of  Pennsylvania,  was  made  Surgeon- 
General  and  Medical  Director.  He  has  already  been  spoken  of  in  connection 
with  the  Brattle  house.  If  he  did  not  live  in  the  Vassall  house  there  is  little 
doubt  but  that  his  office  was  there. 

After  the  army  left  Cambridge  the  Vassall  house  was  uninhabited,  but  may 
have  been  used  as  quarters  for  some  of  Burgoyne's  officers.  There  is  a  tradition 
that  after  a  lively  dinner  a  slave  boy  was  pricked  to  death  by  the  swords  of 
British  officers.  Mrs.  Vassall  returned  after  the  war  was  over,  and  claimed  her 
house.  She  did  not  reside  here  again,  but  sold  her  rights  to  Nathaniel  Tracy, 
of  Newburyport,  who  lived  in  the  Craigie  house,  across  the  street.  At  that  time 
Fred  Geyer,  father-in-law  of  Andrew,  grandson  and  only  male  representative 
of  Governor  Jonathan  Belcher,  lived  here. 

In  1792  Andrew  Craigie  bought  the  estate  and  his  brother-in-law,  Bossinger 
Foster,  lived  here.  Bichard  H.  Dana,  Senior,  lived  here  for  several  years  after 
he  gave  up  the  practice  of  law.  After  the  death  of  Bossinger  Foster  the  estate 
came  to  his  daughter,  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Judge  Samuel  B.  Haven,  who  sold  it 
to  Samuel  Batchelder,  Senior,  in  1841.  The  wife  of  the  new  proprietor  was  a 
direct  descendant  of  William  xidams,  the  first  OAvner  of  this  land.  The  house  is 
still  in  possession  of  the  Batchelder  family.  Mr.  Batchelder  repaired  the  house 
and  raised  the  main  building,  placing  granite  foundations  under  it.  A  fire 
occurred  just  before  he  took  possession  and  burned  the  roof  of  the  eastern  end 
and  the  five  dormer  windows  that  had  been  there  were  not  replaced.  A  few 
years  ago  two  dormer  windows  were  built  in  that  roof  toward  the  southern  side. 

The  illustration  is  from  a  photograph  taken  in  1879,  soon  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Batchelder,  which  occurred  in  his  ninety-fifth  year.  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
plan  of  the  house  is  entirely  different  from  any  other  Colonial  house  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  it  is  evident  that  additions  have  been  made  at  various  periods.  A 
large  kitchen,  well  room  and  great  shed,  paved  with  hexagonal  blocks,  hewn 
from  the  trunks  of  trees,  stretched  to  the  south.  The  last  two  additions  to  the 
house  have  been  taken  away. 

Instead  of  having  a  hallway  running  through  the  house,  as  was  the  usual 
fashion,  there  wer^  two  halls,  an  eastern  and  western,  the  eastern  having  a 
much  more  ornate  stairway,  in  the  style  of  1740-60.  The  western  end  of  the 
house,  the  oldest  portion— had  a  hall,  with  a  room  on  either  side.  That  on  right 
was  the  kitchen,  with  the  stack  chimney  already  referred  to.  In  1842,  the 
weatherbeaten  clapboards  were  found,  showing  that  the  chimney  once  stood 
outside  of  the  house.  A  large  room  running  north  and  south  crossed  the  halls 
and  ended  toward  the  river  in  a  round  bay,  which  was  divided  from  the  room 
by  a  heavy  cornice-like  beam  supported  by  two  Doric  pillars.     From  the  bay 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  99 

three  long  windows  opened  into  the  conservatory.  This  arrangement  was  the 
same  in  the  second  story,  the  two  halls  being  separated  by  the  room  where  the 
name  of  Church  is  carved  on  the  door.  On  the  ground  floor  were  twenty- 
two  windows  and  seven  doors.  Three  staircases  led  from  the  ground  floor  to  the 
second  story,  and  two  from  that  to  the  third  floor. 

The  house  is  built  of  heavy  oak  timbers  filled  in  with  bricks.  The  room  on  the 
left  of  the  west  entrance  was  originally  two  small  rooms.  The  inner  one  had  a 
sliding  panel  that  communicated  with  the  cellar,  affording  a  way  of  escape  if 
necessary;  the  outer  room  was  the  butler's  pantry  and  from  the  western  window 
the  stirrup-cup  was  offered  to  departing  guests.  This  window  opened  on  to  the 
wide  court  paved  with  round  cobble  stones,  that  led  to  the  great  stable.  This 
is  now  Hawthorn  street.  The  stable  faced  Brattle  street  and  stood  near  the 
present  Acacia  street.  At  right  angles  with  it  was  the  carriage  house  where 
Madame  Vassall  kept  her  chaise  and  chariot.  The  house  has  been  altered 
more  in  the  interior  than  externally,  and  there  now  remains  not  more  land  around 
it  than  the  acre  that  was  originally  granted  to  William  Adams. 


John  Fiske,  the  historian,  to  whom  all  Americans  are  so  deeply  indebted,  had 
his  first  Cambridge  home  in  the  Vassall  garden,  on  Acacia  street.  Later  he 
built  a  house  on  part  of  the  Vassall-Craigie  estate  at  the  southerly  corner  of 
Berkeley  street  and  Berkeley  place.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  enlarging 
the  house  of  his  mother,  Mrs.  Stoughton,  for  occupancy.  Here  his  library  was 
placed  and  it  is  now  occupied  by  his  family.  This  stands  also  in  the  Vassall 
garden  at  the  west  corner  of  Brattle  and  Ash  streets,  on  the  site  of  the  Samuel 
Bull  house.  M.  I.  J.  G. 

JOHN  VASSALL,  JR.-CRAIGIE-LONGFELLOW   HOUSE-WASHINGTON 
HEADQUARTERS.     (B72.) 

Once,  ah,  once,  within  these  walls, 

One   whom   memory  oft  recalls, 

The   Father   of  his   Country,    dwelt. 

And  yonder  meadows  broad  and  damp 

The  fires  of  the  besieg-ing'  camp 

Encircled   with  a  burning  belt. 

Up  and  down  these  echoing-  stairs. 

Heavy  with  the  weight  of  cares. 

Sounded  his  majestic  tread; 

Yes,  within  this  very  room 

Sat  he  in  those  hours  of  gloom, 

"Weary  both  in  heart  and  head. 

HENRY   W.    LONGFELLOW. 

In       the       middle  of       the       eighteenth       century,       Cambridge       was 

a        favorite        resort        for        the        wealthy        Royalists.         They        built 
large,   stately  houses,   surrounded  by   gardens  and  pleasure  grounds.    Among 


100  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

these,  one  of  the  largest  was  built  in  1759,  by  John  Vassall,  soon  after  his 
graduation  from  Harvard  College. 

The  Vassall  family  was  originally  of  French  stock,  the  Du  Vassalls,  Barons 
de  Guerden,  in  Querci,  Perigord.  John,  the  father  of  John  Vassall,  was 
born  in  the  West  Indies,  in  1713,  and  came  to  America  in  his  childhood.  He 
graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1732  and  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Lieutenant-Governor  Spencer  Phips,  an  important  man  in  the  community. 
One  of  John  Vassall's  sisters  married  Mr.  PtUggles  and  lived  in  the  Ruggles- 
Fayerweather  house;  another  sister  was  Mrs.  John  Borland,  who  lived  in  the 
Apthorp  House. 

One  of  Mrs.  John  Vassall's  sisters  was  Mrs.  Lechmere,  who  lived  in  the 
house  where  the  Baroness  von  Riedesel  was  imprisoned,  and  another  sister 
was  Mrs.  Joseph  Lee,  who  lived  in  the  next  house  further  up  the  road. 
Mrs.  Vassall  died  in  the  house  on  the  corner  of  Brattle  and  Hawthorn 
streets,  when  her  son,  John,  was  little  more  than  a  year  old,  and  was 
buried  in  the  old  burying-ground  in  Harvard  square,  where  her  brawn  sand- 
stone tomb,  with  the  family  arms  on  the  slab,  Is  a  familiar  object.  After 
her  death,  her  husband  married  again,  and  built  a  house  on  the  bank  of 
the  river,  southeast  of  Elmwood,  where  he  died  in  1747,  when  John  was  only 
nine  years  old.  The  grandfather,  Lieutenant-Governor  Spencer  Phips,  be- 
came guardian  to  the  boy.  A  receipt  for  the  personal  property  of  John 
Vassall,  the  elder,  given  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Ellery,  the  second  husband  of 
Mrs.  Vassall,  is  to  be  found  in  Paige's  History  of  Cambridge  and  gives  a 
picture  of  the  fashions  of  that  time. 

Lieutenant-Governor  Phips  died  in  1757  and  his  grandson,  John  Vassall,  in- 
herited a  part  of  his  large  estate,  and,  evidently  in  anticipation  of  his  mar- 
riage, which  took  place  in  1761,  built  the  house  later  known  as  the  Craigie 
J  House.  An  iron  chimney-back,  dated  1759,  undoubtedly  indicates  the  year  in 
which  tlie  house  was  built.  John  A^assall's  wife  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Robert  Oliver,  and  sister  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Oliver,  who  lived  at  Elm- 
wood,  and  who,  just  a  year  before,  had  married  John  Vassall's  sister  Elizabeth. 

Young  Vassall  became  a  good  citizen  of  Cambridge  and  interested  himself 
in  public  affairs.  He  served  on  a  committee  with  eight  others  "to  chuse 
a  grammar  school-master  for  said  town  of  Cambridge  and  to  regulate  said 
school."  He  was  also  warden  of  Christ  Church  and  a  member  of  the  building 
commitee;  and,  as  the  money  was  slow  in  forthcoming,  he  finally  paid  the 
whole  cost  of  the  land  on  which  the  church  stands. 

Seven  children  were  born  to  John  Vassall  in  his  Cambridge  home,  and  for 
fifteen  years  he  lived  there  in  comfort,  In  the  pleasant  society  of  his  friends 
and  relatives.  He  was,  however,  an  ardent  Loyalist,  and  the  community 
became  roused  against  him,  his  house  was  surrounded  by  a  mob,  and  In  1774 
he  was   obliged   to   take   refuge   in   Boston.    From   there   he   went   with    the 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  101 

British  army  to  Halifax  and  later  to  England,  where  he  died  at  Clifton,  in 
1797.  He  was  exiled  and  his  estates  were  confiscated  by  the  act  of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  in  1778. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  committee  of  safety  took 
possession  of  the  unoccupied  Loyalist  houses,  using  them  for  hospitals  and 
the  accommodation  of  troops.  A  company  from  Marblehead,  commanded  by 
Colonel  John  Glover,  was  quartered  in  the  John  Vassall  house  for  several 
•weeks. 

On  July  2,  1775,  General  "Washington  entered  Cambridge,  coming  down  the 
Watertown  road,  and  on  the  next  day  took  command  of  the  continental  forces. 
The  house  of  the  president  of  Harvard  College — Wadsworth  House — was  first 
assigned  as  headquarters  to  General  "Washington  and  General  Lee.  This 
arrangement,  however,  did  not  prove  satisfactory,  and  on  July  8th  the  com- 
mittee of  safety  directed  "that  the  house  of  Mr.  John  "Vassall,  ordered  by 
Congress  for  the  residence  of  his  Excellency,  General  "Washington,  should  be 
Immediately  put  in  such  condition  as  may  make  it  convenient  for  that  purpose." 

The  following  entry  in  Washington's  account  book  shows  the  date  of  his 
taking  possession:  "July  15th,  1775,  paid  for  cleaning  the  house  which  was 
provided  for  my  occupation  and  which  was  occupied  by  the  Marblehead  regi- 
ment two  pounds  ten  shillings  and  ninepence."  General  "Washington's  letters 
written  from  headquarters  show  that  his  life  in  Cambridge  was  far  from 
being  a  happy  one.  Jealousies  and  difficulties  arose  with  the  untrained  troops, 
and  constant  harassment,  from  lack  of  good  assistance  from  his  military  fam- 
ily and  secretaries. 

When  he  saw  that  a  winter  in  camp  was  before  him,  he  sent  for  Mrs.  Wash- 
ington to  join  him  at  headquarters.  She  was  escorted  from  "Virginia  by  her 
son,  John  Parke  Custis,  and  his  wife  and  Washington's  nephew,  George 
Lewis.  Mrs.  Washington  made  the  journey  from  Mount  Vernon  in  a  chariot 
with  four  horses,  with  black  postillions  in  scarlet  and  white  livery,  a  style 
that  prevailed  in  Virginia  at  that  time.  She  arrived  on  December  11th,  1775. 
From  "Virginia  also  came  Edmund  Randolph,  as  master  of  ceremonies  in 
connection  with  the  social  life  at  headquarters.  Washington  thought  any 
festivities  out  of  place  at  such  a  serious  moment,  and  frowned  on  games  of 
cards  and  other  frivolities.  Mrs.  Washington,  however,  persuaded  him  to  cele- 
brate the  anniversary  of  their  wedding  on  January  6th,  with  a  Twelfth 
Night  party. 

After  the  evacuation  of  Boston,  March  17th,  1776,  General  Washington  left 
headquarters,  and  the  house  was  unoccupied  until  it  was  bought,  in  1781,  by 
Nathaniel  Tracy,  of  Newburyport.  He  was  a  man  of  great  wealth  and 
public  spirit,  ajid  loan^ed  large  amounts  to  the  government  during  the  war. 
He  was  a  ship-owner  and  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  privateers.  It  was  said  that 
he  owned  so  many  estates  that  he  could  travel  from  Newburyport  to  Phil- 


102  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

adelpliia,  and  sleep  every  night  in  his  own  house.  While  living  here,  he  gave  a 
banquet  to  Admiral  d'Estaing,  and,  wishing  to  do  full  honor  to  his  French 
guests,  served  them  with  tlie  celebrated  frog  soup,  which  caused  some  amaze- 
ment, as  each  man  found  a  full  sized  frog  in  his  plate.  Unfortunately,  Tracy's 
fortune  soon  dwindled,  through  losses  at  sea  and  the  failure  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  repay  his  loans;  he  became  a  bankrupt  and  the  Vassall  house 
was  sold  to  Mr.  Thomas  Ilussell,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Boston. 

In  1793,  it  was  purchased  by  Dr.  Andrew  Craigie,  who  occupied  it  for  twenty- 
six  years.  Andrew'  Craigie  had  served  as  apothecary-general  during  the  Rev- 
olutionary War  and  had  made  a  large  fortune  by  successful  speculation.  He 
was  a  sharp  business  man  and  in  constant  warfare  through  his  land  specula- 
tions. He  bought  the  Lechmere  property  in  East  Cambridge,  with  the  agree- 
ment to  build  a  bridge  across  the  river,  and  opened  a  new  road  (Cambridge 
street)  connecting  the  old  Watertown  road  with  this  bridge.  He  enlarged  the 
house  by  adding  an  ell  at  the  back  and  gave  lavish  entertainments  here. 
He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Shaw,  daughter  of  the  Reverend  Bezaleel  Shaw, 
of  Nantucket.  Miss  Shaw  was  young,  beautiful  and  had  remarkable  mental 
powers.  Dr.  Craigie  was  much  older  than  his  bride  and  entirely  immersed 
in  business  speculations,  and  the  marriage  was  far  from  happy,  although  shQ 
was  surrounded  by  every  luxury. 

Dr.  Craigie's  affairs  did  not  always  prosper,  and  he  finally  became  a  bank- 
rupt and  was  unable  to  leave  the  house,  except  on  Sundays,  for  fear  of 
arrest.  He  died  suddenly,  of  apoplexy,  in  1819,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  tomb 
of  the  Vassall  family,  which  he  had  bought  with  the  house.  The  estate  was 
much  encumbered  and  Mrs.  Craigie,  desiring  to  clear  it  from  debt,  reduced 
her  establishment  from  twelve  servants  to  two,  with  whom  she  lived  in  the 
back  part  of  the  house,  renting  all  the  large  rooms  in  the  main  house.  Hon. 
Edward  Everett  brought  his  bride  to  the  house  in  1822,  occupying  one-half 
of  it,  while  Mr.  Willard  Phillips  lived  in  the  other  half. 

Ten  years  later,  Mr.  Jared  Sparks  took  the  rooms  on  th©  westerly  sidie. 
This  was  the  year  after  his  marriage,  and  he  records  in  his  journal:  "While  I 
resided  at  Mrs.  Craigie's,  the  same  house  occupied  by  General  Washington 
as  his  headquarters,  I  was  busily  employed  in  preparing  for  the  press,  the 
identical  letters  which  Washington  had  written  there."  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows  had 
rooms  in  the  house,  while  in  the  divinity  school,  and  it  was  a  favorite  abode  of 
law  students. 

In  1837,  Mr.  Longfellow  came  to  Cambridge  as  professor  in  Harvard  Col- 
lege, and  the  following  year,  being  delighted  with  the  appearance  of  the  old 
house,  applied  to  Mrs.  Craigie  for  rooms.  "Young  man,"  she  said,  "I  do  not 
take  undergraduates."  "But  I  am  not  a  student,"  he  said,  "I  am  a  professor," 
and,  after  some  argument,  he  was  allowed  to  take  rooms  in  the  house  which 
became    his    hom,e    for    life.    Mr.    Longfellow    occupied    two    rooms    on    the 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  103 

second  floor  on  the  easterly  side  of  the  house.  Mr.  Lowell,  Professor  Agassiz, 
Professor  Felton  and  Mr.  Charles  Sumner  were  Intimate  friends  and  constant 
sharers  in  the  simple  and  genial  hospitality  which  the  college  circle  enjoyed 
in  those  days. 

In  May,  1841,  Mrs.  Craigle  died.  She  had  lived  alone  and  was  buried  alone,  in 
Mount  Auburn.  Her  monument,  typical  of  her  philosophical  mind,  is  a 
Grecian  altar  surmounted  by  a  flame,  with  no  name — only  some  lines  from 
"Voltaire,  of  whom  she  was  a  great  admirer — "As  flame  ascends,  the  vital 
principle  aspires  to  God."  Mrs.  Craigie  was  looked  on  askance  by  the  neigh- 
bors because  she  kept  soi  much  aloof  and  was  a  great  reader  of  French  liter- 
ature. Little  children  peeped  fearfully  through  the  fence  for  a  glimpse  of  the 
wicked  old  woman  and  her  wicked  statues  on  the  island,  in  the  pond.  Her 
favorite  seat  was  near  one  of  the  front  windows,  where  she  looked  out  through 
the  double  row  of  elm  trees  between  the  house  and  the  street;  and  watched 
their  slow  destruction  by  canker-worms,  refusing  to  have  them  molested,  say- 
ing:   "Do  not  injure  them;   they  are  our  fellow-worms^" 

After  Mrs.  Craigie's  death,  Mr.  Joseph  Worcester,  the  lexicographer,  and  his 

bride  rented  the  house  and  allowed  Mr.  Longfellow  to  retain  his  rooms.       In 

1843,    Mr.    Longfellow    married    Miss   Frances    Appleton,    of    Boston,    and   her 

father,   Mr.  Nathan  Appleton,  bought  the  old  house  and  presented  it  to  his 

daughter.    Mrs.  Longfellow  shared  her  husband's  literary  and  social  interests 

and  the  house  soon  became  the  centre,  not  only  for  scholars  connected  with      / 

I 
the   college,   but   for   travelers   from  Europe.    Mr.    Longfellow   was   extremely 

interested  in  preserving  the  old  character  of  the  house  and  no  change  has 

been  made  in  it  since  the  additions  built  by  Mr.  Craigie  in  1793. 

The  original  Vassall  estate  comprised  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  and  in 
Mr.  Craigie's  time,  even,  the  hill  now  occupied  by  the  observatory  was  part  of 
the  garden.  On  that  hill  was  a  spring  from  which  water  was  carried  to  the 
house  by  a  small  aqueduct.  The  land  was  gradually  disposed  of  by  the 
different  owners  of  the  place  until  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Longfellow's  occupation 
there  remained  but  eight  acres.  The  pond  was  west  of  the  house  and  when 
the  Longfellows  took  possession  of  the  house  and  grounds  around  it,  Mr. 
Worcester  bought  the  land  west  of  the  pond  and  built,  in  1844,  the  house  still 
standing  there.  No.  121  Brattle  street.  Here  Mr.  Worcester  finished  his  great 
work,  the  unabridged  English  dictionary.  Joseph  Emerson  Worcester,  Yale, 
1811,  was  born  in  Bradford,  N.  H.,  in  1784,  lived  in  Hollis,  N.  H.,  taught  in 
Salem,  removed  to  Cambridge  in  1819,  and  married,  in  1841,  Amy  Elizabeth  Mc- 
Kean,  daughter  of  Professor  Joseph  McKean.  He  died  October  27,  1865,  with- 
out issue. 

Six  children  were  bom  to  Mr.  Longfellow  in  the  old  house,  and,  three  years 
before  his  death,  hig  first  grand-child  was  born  here.  Mr.  Longfellow  died  in 
1882,   and  the  estate  still  remains  in  the  possession  of  his  family. 


104  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

The  house  built  by  John  Vassall  was  on  the  same  plan  as  most  of  the  co- 
lonial houses — a  broad  hall  through  the  centre  of  the  house,  from  front 
to  back,  and  two  square  rooms  on  each  side  of  this.  The  hall  and  rooms 
have  a  high  paneled  wainscot  and  in  every  room,  one  side  is  entirely  paneled 
in  wood.  All  the  woodwork  is  painted  white.  There  are  two  staircases  whic> 
meet  on  a  landing,  where  there  is  an  arched  window  between  the  front  and 
back  halls,  and  the  stairs  again  divide  to  the  front  and  back.  The  rooms  on 
the  second  floor  corricspond  witii  those  beloiw. 

When  the  house  was  used  as  headquarters,  the  room  on  the  left  of  the  en- 
trance was  used  as  Mrs.  "Washington's  drawing-room,  and  the  one  on  the 
right  was  General  Washington's  office.  A  passage  separated  this  from  tlse 
room  used  by  the  military  family,  and  behind  the  drawing-room  was  the 
dining-room.  Dr.  Cralgie  enlarged  the  northeast  room  for  a  banqueting  hall 
and  paneled  it  entirely  in  white.  He  also  added  a  hall  and  ell  at  the  back  of  the 
house.  Large,  commodious  and  stately,  this  house  is  the  finest  specimen  of 
colonial  architecture  iu  Cambridge. 

'         ■  A.  M.  li. 

JUSTIN  WINSOR. 

At  74  Sparks  street,  on  land  once  a  part  of  the  John  Vassall  estate,  Justin 
Winsor  made  his  home  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life.  He  was  born  in  Boston, 
January  2,  1831;  he  entered  Harvard  in  the  class  of  1853,  and  later  studied  in 
Paris  and  at  Heidelberg.  In  1855,  he  married  (Miss)  Caroline  T.  Barker.  From 
1865  to  1877  he  was  superintendent  of  the  Boston  Public  Library  and  the  rest  of 
his  life  librarian  of  Harvard  College.    He  died  at  Cambridge  iu  1897. 

His  first  historical  work  was  "The  History  of  Duxbury,  Mass.,"  published  in 
1849.  This  was  followed  by  many  others,  including  valuable  additions  to  the 
bibliographical  and  cartographical  literature  of  our  country.  Among  his  books 
are  "A  Memorial  History  of  Boston,"  edited  by  him  in  1S81;  and  "A  Narrative 
and  Critical  History  of  America,"  published  1884-1889. 


CHARLES  DBANE. 

Charles  Deane,  LL.  D.,  authority  on  New  England,  especially  Pilgrim,  history, 
was  long  a  resident  of  Cambridge.  Born  at  Biddeford,  Maine,  November  10, 
1813,  and  educated  in  his  native  state,  in  1833,  he  found  employment  with  Water- 
ston,  Pray  &  Company,  of  Boston. 

He  became  a  member  of  the  firm,  and  in  1841  married  his  partner's  daughter, 
Helen  Waterston.  In  1864,  when  senior  partner,  he  retired  from  business.  Soon 
after  his  marriage  he  had  come  to  Cambridge,  where  he  resided  at  80  Sparks 
street  until  his  death  on  November  13,  1889. 

Harvard  and  Bowdoin  Colleges  conferred  many  honors  upon  him.     He  dated 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  105 

his  love  of  history  from   the  summer  of  1843.     In  1S55  he  was  instrumental  in 
finding  the  original  "History  of  the  Plymouth  Plantation"  by  Governor  Bradford. 
Six  children  survive  him,  nearly  all  of  whom  live  in  or  near  the  old  home  ia 
Cambridge. 


LECHMERE-SEWALL   HOUSE— PRISON   OF   THE   VON   RIEDESELS— 
"ENGLISH"   THOMAS    LEE    (B73). 

In  our  somewhat  dreary  picture  of  Tory  Row,  taken  about  1860,  in  winter,  is 
seen  a  large  house  with  an  ample  barn  standing  under  the  leafless  elm  trees;  and 
on  another  page  will  be  found  a  front  view  of  the  same  house  as  it  looked 
in  Revolutionary  days.  This  house  was  built  by  Richard  Lechmere,  son  of 
Thomas  (the  brother  of  Lord  Nichols  Lechmere,  an  eminent  lawyer),  who  died  in 
1727.  Drake  calls  Richard  Lechmere  "a  rich  distiller  of  Boston."  His  father 
came  to  this  country  before  1722  and  married  a  daughter  of  Wait  Winthrop. 
Richard  Lechmere  married  Mary,  tenth  child  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Spencer 
Phips;  they  were  published  March  1,  1754,  and  it  was,  no  doubt,  to  be  near  her 
sister,  who  married  .Judge  Joseph  Lee  the  next  year  that,  in  1762,  Mr.  Lechmere 
built  this  house. 

They  did  not  live  here  many  years,  for  the  house  was  sold  before  1774  to  Jon- 
athan Sewall,  last  attorney-general  under  the  crown. 

He  was  a  nephew  of  Chief  Justice  Stephen  Sewall,  and,  left  a  destitute  orphan, 
was  taken  by  Chambers  Russell,  of  Lincoln,  to  his  farm  and  sent  by  him  to 
Harvard,  where  he  graduated  in  1748.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  practiced 
in  Charlestown.  At  that  time  he  was  a  Whig,  but  Governor  Hutchinson  tried  to 
make  a  Tory  of  him,  and,  as  no  office  was  vacant  he  created  one,  making  him 
solicitor-general,  June  24,  1767.  The  year  before  this  he  had  married  Esther, 
daughter  of  Edmund  Quincy,  grand-daughter  of  Judge  Quincy,  and  sister  of 
Madame  John  Hancock.  When  Judge  Trowbridge  left  the  office  vacant  Sewall 
was  made  attorney-general  and  also  advocate-general  of  the  courts  of  admiralty; 
and  in  1769  judge  of  admiralty  of  Nova  Scotia.  He  did  not  go  to  that  province 
to  live,  but  sailed  to  Halifax  and  appointed  deputy  judges,  returning  on  the 
same  vessel  to  Boston.  "He  was  a  successful  advocate  and  able  counsellor.  He 
had  a  soft,  smooth,  insinuating  eloquence,  which  glided  into  the  minds  of  a  jury 
and  gave  him  as  much  power  over  that  tribunal  as  any  lawyer  ought  ever  to 
possess,"  says  one  who  knew  him.  He  was  the  bosom  friend  of  John  Adams, 
until  political  differences  separated  them.  A  famous  slave  suit  brought  by  Sewall 
against  Lechmere  was  the  beginning  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Massachusetts. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  tronhlos,  September  1,  1774,  this  house  was  surrounded 
by  a  mob  of  boys  and  negroes,  who,  provoked  by  a  gun  fired  from  a  window, 
broke  glass,  but  did  no  more  mischief.  Judge  Sewall,  however,  thought  best  to 
depart.  He  was  a  staunch  loyalist  and  died  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1796. 
The   estate,   consisting  of  forty-four   acres,   was   confiscated   and   rented   by  the 


106  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

committee  of  correspondence  for  £26,  13s.  4p.  November,  1778,  saw  a  sad  pro- 
cession of  tired,  disheartened,  muddy  soldiers  passing  tlie  liouse.  They  were  the 
convention  prisoners,  taken  at  Saratoga,  the  English  commanded  by  General 
Burgoyne,  the  German  allies  by  the  Baron  von  Riedesel.  With  them,  in  a 
"calache,"  covered  with  oiled  cloth  to  keep  out  the  wet,  rode  the  Baroness  von 
Riedesel  and  her  tliree  little  daughters,  the  youngest  a  babe  in  arms;  Lena,  her 
German  maid,  and  Rockel,  a  Tyrolean  man  servant. 

Quartered  first  in  the  Judah  Monis  House,  on  Boylston  street,  and  in  the  filthy 
barracks  on  Winter  Hill,  the  Riedesels  rejoiced  when  their  captors  finally  settled 
them  in  the  sumptuous  home  of  the  absentee  attorney-general.  Baron  von 
Riedesel  was  fond  of  gardening  and  out-of-door  life,  and,  no  doubt,  solaced  him- 
self with  caring  for  the  neglected  grounds  and  garden.  One  is  tempted  to  quote 
largely  from  the  memoirs  of  the  Baroness  von  Riedesel,  but  it  is  better  that  the 
reader  should  peruse  for  himself  the  vivacious  account  of  Revolutionary  days  left 
by  this  remarkable  woman,  who  shared  all  her  husband's  privations  and  his 
year's  imprisonment  in  Cambridge  and  later,  in  the  south,  where,  in  1779,  the 
convention  prisoners  were  sent,  on  account  of  the  great  dearth  of  provisions  in 
this  neighborhood. 

The  baroness  enjoyed  her  stay  on  Tory  Row.  She  liked  to  listen  to  the  ac- 
counts of  the  grand  doings  when  the  Vassalls,  and  Lees,  the  Lechmere,  Oliver 
and  Phips  families  gave  entertainments  every  afternoon,  and  nothing  was 
thought  of  except  music,  dancing  and  diversion,  before  the  war  came  and  sep- 
arated them.  The  baroness  gave  here  a  dinner  on  the  king's  birthday,  at  which 
the  health  of  His  Majesty,  George  the  Third,  was  duly  drunk.  She  says  the 
populace  with  links  surrounded  the  house,  but  no  harm  was  done.  On  another 
occasion,  she  speaks  of  barefooted  men  running  past  the  house  all  day,  on  the 
rumor  of  a  landing  of  the  British,  but  most  of  her  days  here  were  peaceful. 
General  Burgoyne,  who  was  living  in  the  Apthorp  house,  seems  to  have  treated 
the  wife  of  his  ally  with  scant  courtesy,  but  when  about  to  leave  called  here  and 
apologized  to  her,  but  the  baroness  begged  him  not  to  put  himself  out  on  her 
account.  She  wrote  her  name  with  a  diamond  on  a  window  pane,  that  is  still 
cherished  as  a  memorial  of  the  gay  young  prisoner. 

After  the  prisoners  were  gone,  the  house  was  granted  to  Thomas  Lee,  of  Pom- 
fret,  Connecticut,  to  repay  him  for  a  ship  laden  with  merchandise  that  had  been 
captured  by  the  Continentals,  and  once  again  gay  times  came  to  the  fine  mansion. 

Thomas  Lee  *  was  born  in  Taunton,  England,  and  came  to  this  country  as  a 
young  man;  he  became  partner  with  Cofiin  Jones,  a  leading  merchant  of  Boston, 
accumulated  a  fortune,  and  married  Jane  Miller.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
troublous  times,  he  rather  sided  with  the  patriots,  and  went  to  live  at  Norwich, 

♦See  Memoir  of  Benjamin  Lee,  privately  printed  by  his  son,  Right  Reverend 
Alfred  Lee. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  107 

later  at  Pomfret,  Connecticut,  where  he  led  the  life  of  an  English  squire,  hunt- 
ing with  trained  hounds.  After  1779  Lee  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  in 
this  pleasant  mansion,  enjoying  an  ample  fortune.  Dignified  and  affable  in  man- 
ner, his  high  standing  and  free  hospitality  attracted  to  the  house  the  best  society 
of  Boston  and  vicinity.  This  dwelling  was  handsomely  furnished  and  contained 
a  good  library  and  philosophical  apparatus.  In  the  stables  were  fine  imported 
horses  and  when,  on  the  occasion  of  some  religious  assembly,  he  visited  Phila- 
delphia, President  Willard,  of  Hai-vard  College,  accompanied  him,  in  his  coach 
and  four.  Thomas  Lee  was  a  member  of  Dr.  Holmes'  church.  Of  the  sincerity 
of  his  piety  he  gave  evidence  by  open-handed  benevolence  and  an  unspotted  life. 
His  portrait,  supposed  to  be  by  Copley,  presents  an  open,  benignant  countenance. 
A  benefactor  to  Hai-vard,  his  name  was  placed  over  one  of  the  alcoves  in  the 
college  libi-ary.  He  died  May  26,  1787,  and  is  buried  in  the  old  burying  ground, 
an  iron  railing  surrounding  his  altar  tomb.  He  was  called  "English  Thomas"  to 
distinguish  him  from  his  next-door  neighbor  of  the  same  name.  He  left  his 
entire  fortune  to  his  wife,  after  providing  for  his  sister  Hannah,  and  £100  to  Dr. 
Holmes,  with  the  request  that  she  would  "make  such  presents  as  she  should  think 
proper  to  his  brother  Benjamin."     He  had  no  children. 

Mrs.  Thomas  Lee  was  very  eccentric.  She  hoarded  gold,  which  slie  hid  in 
cellar  and  cupboard,  and  wandered  at  night,  like  a  restless  spirit  visiting  her 
treasures.  Her  figure  clothed  in  white  seen  through  the  windows  at  late  hours 
suggested  ghost  stories.  Some  persons,  who  wished  to  obtain  Mrs.  Lee's  money, 
induced  her  to  sign  a  will  in  their  favor.  Her  neighbor,  Elbridge  Gerry,  visiting 
her  in  her  last  illness,  read  the  will  to  her,  at  her  request,  and  she  at  once  re- 
voked it.  Her  husband's  nephew,  Thomas  Lee,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Elizabeth 
(Leighton)  Lee,  became  heir  to  the  large  fortune  at  her  death  in  1807. 

Benjamin  Lee  came  then  to  live  in  the  mansion,  with  the  heir,  his  son,  born  in 
Medford  in  1798;  sis  children  were  born  here,  the  second  being  Right  Beverend 
Alfred  Lee,  Bishop  of  Delaware,  who  was  born  September  9, 1807.  Benjamin  Lee 
had  been  in  the  Royal  navy  and  commanded  a  battery  in  an  engagement  between 
Admiral  Rodney  and  Count  De  Grasse.  Once  he  was  condemned  by  court-martial 
to  be  hung  at  the  yard  arm  for  countermanding  an  inhuman  order  of  his  superior 
officer.  His  life  was  saved  by  the  intercession  of  Prince  William  Henry,  Duke 
of  Clarence,  later  King  William  IV.,  who  was  a  fellow  midshipman.  On  leaving 
the  navy,  he  became  captain  of  a  United  States  merchantman.  George  Wash- 
ington and  Thomas  Jefferson  signed  his  commission  as  captain  of  the  "Fair 
American,"  sailing  to  France,  Cape  Horn  and  China.  The  Lees  lived  here  until 
1819,  when  the  estate  was  sold  to  Andrew  Craigie. 

■Phe  next  occupant  was  Joseph  Foster,  brother  of  Bossenger  Foster,  who  lived 
in  the  Vassall  house.  His  first  wife  was  the  daughter  of  John  Cutler,  grand 
master  of  the  Masons,  who  officiated  at  Washington's  funeral.  His  second  wife 
was  the  widow  Sohier,  mother  of  William  D.  Sohier.  Mr.  Foster  upheld  the 
reputation  of  the  house  for  hospitality. 


108  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAIMBRIDGE 

The  dividing  line  between  Cambridge  and  Watertown,  until  1754,  was  what  is 
now  Sparks  street,  and  it  was  ateo  the  line  between  the  estates  of  Richard  Lecli- 
mere  and  Col.  John  Vassall,  Jr.  The  house  was  surrounded  by  linden  trees,  of 
large  size  in  the  Lees'  time.  Henry  W.  Longfellow  thus  describes  the  house  in 
his  pathetic  poem,  "The  Open  Window:" 

"The  old  house  by  the  lindens 
Stood  silent  in  the  shade, 
And  on  the  gravelled  pathway 
The  light  and  shadow  played." 

The  present  owner  of  the  estate  is  the  son  of  Mr.  Brewster  who  lived  here 
when  the  poem  was  written.  But  alas!  the  house  is  not  on  its  original  site.  First 
a  story  was  built  under  the  old  house,  and  then  tlie  upper  floor  taken  away  and 
the  house  removed  to  the  west  end  of  the  land  where  it  now  stands  on  the 
corner  of  Riedesel  avenue,  looking  so  modern  that  one  would  scarcely  guess  its 
past  history.  M.  I.  J.  G. 

HOLMES-HOOPBR-JUDGE  LEE-NICHOLS  HOUSE  (B74). 

The  old  seventeenth  century  house,  159  Brattle  street,  east  corner  of  Kennedy 
avenue,  is  very  noticeable  on  account  of  its  great  stack  chimney  laid  with  clay 
and  pounded  oyster  shells.  The  land  belonged  to  John  Holmes,  son  of  Robert, 
the  settler,  who,  in  1664,  married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Deacon  Samuel  Thatcher 
(page  120).  They  later  moved  to  Salem  and,  in  1685,  sold  the  estate  of  twelve 
acres  to  Dr.  Richard  Hooper.  No  house  is  mentioned  in  the  deed,  but  it  may 
have  been  standing  then.  Dr.  Hoopei*  died  in  1690  and  in  1693  his  widow,  Eliza- 
beth, was  licensed  to  keep  an  inn.  Their  son,  Dr.  Henry  Hooper,  lived  here  and 
was  the  physician  of  President  Leverett  of  Harvard  College.  His  bill  for  treat- 
ing the  president  is  given  in  Paige's  History  of  Cambridge,  page  598,  and  throws 
light  on  the  medical  practice  of  1721. 

Dr.  Hooper,  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  sold  the  house  to  Cornelius  Waldo,  merchant, 
of  Boston,  in  1733.  There  is  no  evidence  that  Mr.  Waldo  ever  lived  in  the  house. 
In  the  Boston  News  Letter  of  INIarch  11,  1742,  he  advertised  it  to  be  let,  and  in 
1758  his  widow,  Mrs.  Faith  Waldo,  sold  it  to  Judge  Joseph  Lee. 

The  house  is  sixty  feet  front  and  the  central  chimney  is  twelve  feet  square. 
The  rooms  opening  on  either  side  of  the  hall  are  twenty  feet  square,  and,  except 
the  parlor,  have  small  rooms  about  six  feet  in  breadth  partitioned  off  on  the  side 
furthest  from  the  chimney.  This  kept  the  main  rooms  warmer  in  days  when  the 
only  heat  was  from  a  wood  fire  in  the  chimney.  The  walls  were  hung  with  land- 
scape paper.  The  parlor  doors  open  into  a  passage  leading  to  the  stables  and  to 
an  enclosed  staircase.  Doors  from  this  passage  lead  to  the  kitchen  and  to  a  large 
bed  chamber.  Judge  Lee  probably  built  the  third  story  and  made  other  improve- 
ments, wainscoting  the  rooms,  which  are  very  low-studded. 

Judge  Joseph  Lee  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Lee,  a  ship  builder,  of  Boston,  who 
died  in  1763  at  the  age  of  ninety-three,  and  of  Deborah,  his  wife,  daughter  of 
Ensign  Edward  Flint,  of  Salem,  whom  he  married  in  1700.   Judge  Lee  was  born 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  109 

in  1710,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1729,  and  married  Rebecca,  youngest  child  of 
Lieutenant-Governor  Spencer  Pliips  (published  1755).  He  was  Judge  of  the 
court  of  common  pleas  of  Middlesex,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Christ 
Church.  In  1774,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  mandamus  councillors,  but  was 
forced  to  resign  by  his  fellow  citizens,  which  he  did  from  the  court  house  steps. 
He  was  of  a  mild  and  retiring  disposition  and  took  no  active  part  in  the  Revolu- 
tion, so  that  after  a  short  absence  from  Cambridge  he  was  permitted  to  return 
and  his  property  was  not  confiscated. 

Perhaps  the  best  description  of  this  gentleman  of  the  old  school  is  that  given 
in  his  obituary  in  the  Columbian  Centinel,  December  3,  1802:  "At  Cambridge, 
Sunday  last,  Hon.  Joseph  Lee,  aged  93.  During  a  long  life  Judge  Lee  was  re- 
spected by  all  who  knew  him.  He  was  distinguished  in  society  by  the  manners 
of  a  gentleman  and  by  the  habits  and  principles  of  an  honest  and  honorable  man. 
He  was  a  kind  neighbor,  warm  and  sincere  in  his  friendships.  Attached  to  the 
government  from  principle,  he  was  a  good  subject  to  his  king,  under  whom  he 
executed  tlie  duties  of  an  important  offlce  with  fidelity  and  honor;  and  with 
equal  fidelity  he  adhered  to  the  government  of  the  United  States  since  the  Revo- 
lution. In  attendance  on  religious  duties  he  was  exemplary  and  amidst  the  in- 
firmities of  age,  he  has  seen  with  composure  the  slow  approaches  of  death  and 
fostered  not  the  wish  to  lengthen  the  days  of  sorrow  and  pain." 

In  his  will,  dated  1802,  Judge  Lee  left  the  house  in  Sherborn,  that  he  bought  of 
Edward  Hutchinson,  to  his  niece,  Elizabeth  Newell.  His  lot,  fifty  feet  wide, 
that  formerly  belonged  to  Professor  Samuel  Williams  (this  was  on  the  west  side 
of  Harvard  square,  near  Church  street),  to  Harvard  College;  to  Thomas  Lee,  of 
Salem,  "in  remembrance  not  only  of  his  kind  care  and  attention  to  my  blind  and 
insane  Sister  Abigail,  but  also  of  his  assistance  to  me  worn  out  by  age,  my 
house  and  land  in  Salem,  purchased  of  Benjamin  Carpenter,  on  Essex  street;" 
to  his  nieces  and  nephews  and  to  relatives  of  his  wife,  including  Richard  Lech- 
mere  and  his  daughter  Mary,  who  had  married  James  Russell,  of  Bristol,  Eng- 
land, and  Rebecca  Brett,  widow  of  Captain  Brett,  niece  of  his  wife,  and  her 
sons,  legacies  were  left. 

Mrs.  Deborah  Carpenter,  great-niece  of  the  judge,  lived  to  be  about  ninety- 
five  years  old,  and  occupied  the  house  until  1860,  when  Mr.  George  Nichols 
bought  it.  He  added  the  ornamental  railing  on  the  roof,  the  balusters  of  which 
are  of  mahogany  and  were  once  part  of  the  communion  rail  of  St.  Paul's  church, 
Boston.  Later  it  was  sold  to  a  member  of  the  Lee  family,  but  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Nichols  continued  to  reside  here  during  their  lives,  and  the  Nichols  family  still 
occupies  the  house.    Mr.  John  Nichols,  their  son,  has  recently  bought  it 


110  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 


THE  THOMAS  LEE  HOUSE. 

Judge  Lee  had  no  children,  but  some  years  before  his  death  he  built  the  house, 
now  standing  (No.  153  Brattle  street)  for  his  nephew,  Thomas  Lee,  Jr.,  son  of 
his  brother,  Thomas  (H.  C.  1722),  who  married  Lois  Orne,  daughter  of  Thomas 
and  Lois  (Pickering)  Orne.    He  removed  to  Salem,  where  he  died  in  1747. 

Thomas  Lee,  Jr.,  was  born  in  1741.  He  married  Judith  Coleman,  daughter  of 
Rev.  Benjamin  Coleman,  and  died  January  11,  1830.  He  had  four  children — 
George  Gardner  Lee,  William  Coleman  Lee,  Louisa,  who  married  Dr.  Benjamin 
Waterhouse,  and  Deborah,  who  married,  first,  Richard  Austin  and,  for  her 
second  husband,  Benjamin  Carpenter.  Thomas  Lee  let  the  house  to  Richard 
Austin  in  1815  for  one  year,  but  the  date  of  the  death  of  this  first  husband  is  not 
known. 

This  house  remained  the  property  of  Mrs.  Deborah  Carpenter  for  many 
years.  It  was  long  the  residence  of  Mr.  Charles  F.  Choate,  and  is  now  owned 
and  occupied  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Joseph  B.  Warner.  The  grounds  around  both 
these  houses  have  been  much  curtailed,  but  they  still  preserve  their  ancient 
appearance. 

MARRETT-RUGGLES-FAYERWEATHER- WELLS  HOUSE  (B75). 

The  last  pre-Revolutionary  house  on  the  north  side  of  Brattle  street  is  the 
large,  square,  three-story  house  standing  nearly  opposite  to  Elmwood  avenue. 
It  was  built  by  Amos  Marrett,  son  of  Amos  and  Mary  (Dunster)  Marrett,  fifth 
in  descent  from  President  Dunster.  He  was  born  in  1738,  and  married  Abigail 
Tidd,  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Hepzibah  (Reed)  Tidd,  of  Lexington,  in  1760.  He 
lived  here  until  1771,  when  he  moved  to  Lexington  and  sold  the  estate  to  Colonel 
George  RuggJes.  He  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  serving  in  Captain  Parker's 
company  in  1775,  and  in  the  Jerseys  the  following  year. 

George  Ruggles  was  of  Jamaica.  He  married  Susanna  Vassall,  daughter  of 
Major  Leonard  Vassall  (sister  of  John,  Sr.,  William  and  Henry  Vassall)  in 
1742.  They  had  two  children — George,  who  died  an  infant  in  1745,  and  Susanna, 
baptized  in  1747,  who  married  Ezekiel  Lewis,  a  Boston  merchant.  They  lived 
with  Colonel  Ruggles  in  this  house. 

October  31,  1774,  Colonel  Ruggles  sold  the  estate  to  Thomas  Fayerweather,  for 
£2,000.    At  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  Colonel  Ruggles  disappeared. 

Thomas  Fayerweather  was  the  son  of  Thomas  (a  merchant  of  Boston)  and  his 
wife  Hannah  (Waldo)  Fayerweather.  He  was  of  the  fifth  generation  of  this 
family  in  New  England.  His  younger  brother,  Samuel  Fayerweather,  was  the 
noted  divine,  a  graduate  of  Oxford,  England.  His  sister,  Hannah,  was  the  wife 
of  Professor  John  Winthrop,  and  Anne,  the  youngest  of  the  family,  was  the 
third  wife  of  Mr.  Thaddeus  Mason.    Mr.  Fayerweather  was  a  patriot,  and  after 


LECHMEKE-SEWELL  HOUSE.     Page  105 


PMYERWEATFIER  IIOUSK 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  111 

the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  gave  up  part  of  his  house  to  be  used  as  a  hospital. 
His  wife,  Sarah,  died  here  in  1804,  aged  seventy-five;  and  he  also  passed  away 
in  this  house,  January  12,  1805,  aged  eighty-two. 

The  next  noted  owner  of  the  house  wasi  William  Wells,  who  came  as  a  boy 
from  England,  with  his  father,  who  settled  in  Boston  and  was  a  publisher.  Wil- 
liam Wells  took  a  degree  at  Harvard  in  1790,  and  after  the  publishing  house  was 
burned  opened  a  school  here  in  1827  to  fit  boys  for  college.  Among  his  pupils 
were  James  Russell  Lowell,  William  W.  Story  and  Colonel  Thomas  Wentworth 
Higginsou.  (The  school  is  described  in  the  writings  of  the  latter).  The  house 
still  belongs  to  the  grandchildren  of  William  Wells,  whose  daughter  married  Rev. 
William  Newell,  long  pastor  of  the  First  Parish  Church. 

The  house  stood  in  a  large  garden  with  forty-five  acres  of  land  towards 
Fresh  Pond.  Around  the  pond  were  several  old  houses  at  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
lution. In  one  of  them  ]Madame  Hannah  Winthrop,  with  other  women  and  chil- 
dren, took  refuge  on  the  eventful  nineteenth  of  April.  All  these  old  houses  are 
now  gone,  M.  I.  J.  G. 

ELM  WOOD 
OLIVER-GERRY-LOWELL  HOUSE.     (B76.) 

On  June  11,  1760,  Thomas  Oliver  married  Elizabeth  Vassal!,  of  Cambridge, 
and  a  few  years  later  built  "Elmwood."  The  house  was  surrounded  by  broad 
fields  on  three  sides  and  commanded  a  fine  view  of  the  Charles  river,  as  it 
curved  throug-h  salt  marshes  to  the  sea.  This  land,  formerly  the  farm  of 
John  Stratton,  lay  on  the  outskirts  of  the  "village"  of  Cambridge,  and  was 
accounted  a  part  of  Watertown  until  1754. 

Thomas  Oliver  was  born  in  Antigua,  January  5,  1733.  His  father,  Robert 
Oliver,  a  w-ealthy  West  India  merchant,  came  to  New  England  about  1737, 
settled  in  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  and  built  there  the  fine  Richardson,  or 
Everett,  house.  Thomas  Oliver's  maternal  grandmother,  widow  of  James 
Brown,  of  Antigua,  married  for  her  second  husband  Isaac  Royal,  and  lived  in 
the  "Royal  House"  in  Medford.  "Elmwood,  while  not  resembling  the  Ev- 
erett house  closely,  has  a  roof  balustrade  with  flames,  and  in  the  interior 
has  dadoes,  wainscoting  and  car-^ed  banisters  which  are  very  similar." 

Thomas  Oliver  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1753.  He  and  John  Vas- 
sall,  Jr.,  of  Cambridge,  exchanged  sisters  for  their  wives,  both  named  Eliza- 
beth. Oliver's  aunt,  Penelope,  was  the  widow  of  Colonel  Henry  Vassall, 
uncle  of  Mrs.  Oliver,  whose  paternal  aunts  were  Mrs.  George  Ruggles  and 
Mrs.  John  Borland;  maternal  aunts,  Mrs.  Joseph  Lee  and  Mrs.  Richard  Lech- 
mere;  and  maternal  uncle,  Colonel  Phips — her  mother  being  a  daughter  of 
Governor  Phips.  These  families  formed  a  happy  circle  of  relatives.  Madame 
Riedesel  speaks  of  them  as  the  most  delightfully  located  and  happily  united 
families    she    had    ever    seen.      Lieutenant-Governor    Oliver    had    six    daughters 


112  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

by  Elizabeth  Vassall;  Ann,  born  in  1763,  and  Elizabeth,  born  in  1766,  In 
Dorchester;  Penelope,  baptized  in  Christ  Church,  Cambridg-e,  in  1768;  Mary, 
Lucy  and  Frances.  He  inherited  a  large  fortune  from  his  grandfather, 
James  Brown,  of  Antigua,  and  his  grreat  uncle,  Robert  Oliver,  and  did  not 
eng-age  in  business,  save  the  care  of  his  estate,  of  nearly  a  hundred  acres, 
in  Cambridge.  Neither  did  he  engage  in  the  strong  political  contests  of  that 
eventful  period,  until,  in  the  j'ear  1774,  on  the  recommendation  of  Governor 
Hutchinson,  he  was  appointed,  by  the  crown,  lieutenant-governor.  As  such, 
he  was  presiding  ofRcer  of  the  so-called  "Mandamus  Council"  appointed  by 
George  III.  According  to  the  charter  of  the  Province  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay,  councilors  were  to  be  elected.  This  made  Oliver  an  object  of  resent- 
ment to  the  freeholders  of  Middlesex  county.  As  the  governor  had  dismissed 
the  General  Court  on  June  17,  1774,  the  sole  governing  power  of  the  province 
was  vested  in  himself  and  the  newly  appointed  council.  This  council  consist- 
ed of  36  members,  24  of  whom  accepted  office;  among  the  latter  were  two  res- 
idents of  Cambridge.  The  first  meeting  of  this  council  was  held  at  Salem, 
August  S.  On  the  last  day  of  that  month,  the  removal  of  all  the  store  of 
gunpowder  (250  half-barrels)  from  the  powder  house  on  Quarry  Hill  in 
Charlestown,  and  the  taking  from  Cambridge  of  two  field  pieces,  which  had 
been  sent  here  for  the  use  of  Colonel  Brattle's  reg'iment,  alarmed  the  patriots 
of  Middlesex  county,  whose  enthusism  had  been  aroused.  A  few  days  after 
the  event,  Lieutenant-Governor  Oliver  wrote  as  follows:  "On  the  morning 
of  September  2,  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  Charlestown  called  at  my 
house  to  acquaint  me  that  a  large  body  of  people  from  several  towns  of  the 
county  were  on  their  way  to  Cambridge.  They  were  afraid  some  bad  conse- 
quences might  ensue  and  begged  I  would  go  out  to  meet  them  and  endeavor 
to  prevail  on  them  to  return.  I  went  out  to  them  and  asked  them  the  reason 
of  their  appearence  in  that  manner.  They  said  they  came  peaceably  to  in- 
quire into  their  grievances,  not  with  designs  to  hurt  any  man.  I  perceived 
they  were  landholders  of  the  neighboring  towns,  and  was  thoroughly  per- 
suaded they  would  do  no  harm.  I  was  asked  to  speak  to  them.  They  thanked 
me  for  my  advice,  said  they  were  no  mob,  but  sober,  orderly  people,  who 
Avould  commit  no  disorder.  They  proceeded  on  their  way.  A  report  came 
that  troops  were  on  their  march  from  Boston.  I  was  desired  to  go  and  in- 
tercede with   his   excellency   to   prevent  their  coming." 

He  undertook  this  commission,  saying  to  the  people  on  the  common  as 
he  passed  them  (about  8  A.  M.,  the  patriots  said)  that  he  would  return 
to  let  them  know  the  result.  He  expressly  states  that  he  did  not  go,  as 
the  patriots  asserted  in  their  account  published  September  5,  to  confer  as  to 
his  position  as  President  of  the  Council.  On  his  return  he  informed  the  com- 
mittee that  "no  troops  had  been  ordered  and  from  the  account  given  his 
excellency  none  would  be   ordered.      I  was    thanked    for    the    trouble    I    had 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  113 

taken."  The  committee  urged  him  to  resign  from  the  council,  but  he  said  he 
could  not  unless  he  resigned  the  lieutenant-governorship.  He  agreed  that 
if  the  province  in  general,  not  a  single  county,  demanded  his  resignation,  he 
■would  resign.  This  was  accepted  as  satisfactory.  "I  requested  tliat  they  re- 
port this  vote,  that  I  should  have  no  further  trouble  about  it.  In  the  after- 
noon, I  observed  large  companies  pouring  in  from  different  parts;  I  then 
began  to  apprehend  they  would  become  unmanageable,  and  that  it  would  be 
expedient  to  get  out  of  their  way.  I  was  just  going  into  my  carriage,  when 
a  great  crowd  advanced,  and  in  a  short  time  my  house  was  surrounded  by 
three  or  four  thousand  people,  and  one-quarter  part  in  arms.  I  went  to  the 
front  door,  where  I  was  met  by  five  persons,  who  acquainted  me  they  were 
a  committee  from  the  people  to  demand  a  resignation  of  my  seat  at  the 
board.  The  people  were  dissatisfied  with  the  vote  of  the  committee,  and 
insisted  on  my  signing  a  paper  they  had  prepared  for  that  purpose.  All  this 
occasioned  a  delay,  which  enraged  part  of  the  multitude,  who,  pressing  into 
my  back  yard  demanded  vengeance  to  the  foes  of  their  liberties.  The  com- 
mittee endeavored  to  moderate  them,  and  desired  them  to  keep  back,  for  they 
pressed  up  to  my  windows,  which  then  were  opened;  I  could  from  thence 
hear  them  at  a  distance  calling  out  for  a  determination,  and  with  their  arms 
in  their  hands,  swearing  they  would  have  my  blood  if  I  refused.  The  com- 
mittee appeared  to  be  anxious  for  me."  This  with  the  distress  of  his  family 
led  him    to   cast   about   for   some   way  of  escape  without  loss   of  honor. 

"I  proposed  they  should  call  in  the  people  to  take  me  out  by  force,  but  they 
said  the  people  were  enraged,  and  they  would  not  answer  for  the  conse- 
quences. I  told  them  I  would  take  the  risk,  but  they  refused  to  do  it.  Re- 
duced to  this  extremity,  I  cast  my  eyes  over  the  paper  with  a  hurry  of 
mind  and  conflict  of  passion,  which  rendered  me  unable  to  remark  the  con- 
tents and  wrote  the  words  underneath  it.  The  five  persons  took  it,  carried 
it  to  the  people;"  they,  and  the  landholders  he  had  met  in  the  morning, 
urged  its  acceptance.  "I  had  several  messages  from  the  people  that  they 
would  not  accept  it,  with  those  additions.  Upon  which  I  walked  into  the 
court  yard  and  declared  I  would  do  no  more,  though  they  should  put  me  to 
death." 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  paper  which  Lieutenant-Governor  Oliver 
signed: 

)        "Cambridge,  September  2,  1774. 

"I,  Thomas  Oliver,  being  appointed  by  his  majesty  to  a  seat  at  the  Council 
Board,  upon  and  in  conformity  to  the  Act  of  Parliament,  entitled,  An  Act  for 
the  better  regulation  of  the  Province  of  Massachusets  Bay,  which  being  a 
manifest  infringement  of  the  Charter  rights  and  privileges  of  the  people,  I 
do  hereby,  in  conformity  to  the  commands  of  the  body  of  the  County  now 
convened,  most  solemnly  renounce  and  resign  my  seat  at  said  unconstitu- 
tional board,  and  hereby  firmly  promise  and  engage,  as  a  man  of  honor  and 

8 


114  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

a  Christian,  tliat  I  never  will  hereafter  upon  any  terms  whatever  accept  a 
seat  at  said  board  on  the  present  novel  and  oppressive  plan  of  government. 
My  house  at  Cambridge  being  surrounded  by  about  four  thousand  people,  in 
compliance   with    their   command,    I   sign  my  name. 

"THOMAS  OLIVER." 

Sabine,  in  his  "American  Loyalists,"  says  that  except  for  the  representa- 
tions oif  Oliver  to  the  governor,  "the  first  collision  between  the  King's  troops 
and  the  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts  would  have  occurred,  very  likely,  at 
Cambridge,  and  not  Lexington."  The  patriots'  account  states  that  the  com- 
mittees of  Charlestown  and  Boston,  notified  of  the  gathering,  had  hastened 
to  Cambridge  early  that  morning;  also  that  Samuel  Danforth  and  Joseph  Lee 
were  forced  on  that  day  to  resign  from  the  council.  In  a  few  days  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Oliver  left  Cambridge,  with  his  family  and  household  goods, 
never  to  return.  He  was  civil  governor  of  Boston  till  its  evacuation,  when 
he  sailed  to  Halifax.  Later,  Samuel  Curwen  dined  with  him  and  his  fam- 
ily at  Bristol,  England,  where  Richard  Lechmere  and  other  Cambridge 
friends  were  also  living.  His  wife  died  during  the  war,  and  on  June  3,  1781,  he 
married  Harriet  Freman,  at  St.  Johns,  Antigua.  Although  his  Cambridge 
property  was  confiscated,  he  still  owned  large  estates  in  the  West  Indies.  He 
died   at  Biistol,   England,   November  20,  1815. 

After  the  battle  of  Lexington,  his  estate  in  Cambridge  came  under  the 
control  and  protection  of  the  Committee  of  Safety.  "May  27,  1775 — Mr.  "Wes- 
son, keeper  of  Thomas  Oliver,  Esquire's,  farm,  had  orders  to  secure  any 
creatures  that  might  be  put  into  his  enclosure  by  ill-disposed  persons  and  to 
inform  the  committee  thereof."  July  20,  1775 — "It  being  represented  that 
the  present  hospital  is  not  large  eneough  to  contain  the  sick,  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Oliver's  house  is  to  be  cleared  for  that  purpose,  and  care  to  be 
taken  that  no  injury  is  done  it."  Later,  the  estate  was  leased.  Probably 
the  sick  and  wounded  remained  here  all  the  year  that  Cambridge  was  a 
camp.  Those  who  died  were  buried  on  the  corner  of  what  is  now  Mount 
Auburn  and  Channing  streets.  Some  years  ago,  the  bones  found  here  in 
digging  the  foundations  of  a  house,  were  re-interred  in  the  old  Cambridge 
Cemetery  and  a  monument  erected  over  them. 

The  estate  was  confiscated  and  sold  by  the  commonwealth  of  Massachu- 
setts to  Andrew  Cabot,  Esq.,  of  Salem,  November  24,  1779,  for  £47,000  "law- 
ful money,"  possession  to  be  given  the  following  April.  Andrew  Cabot  pur- 
chased other  confiscated  estates  and  became  a  large  landholder  in  East  Cam- 
bridge. When  the  petition  for  a  bridge  from  Charlestown  was  under  dis- 
cussion in  the  General  Court,  he  presented  a  rival  petition  for  a  bridge  to 
Boston  from  Leclmiere  Point  in  East  Cambridge.  The  town  of  Cambridge 
supported  this  petition,  but  the  Charlestown  scheme  prevailed,  and  a  Cam- 
bridg-e  bridge  was  not  built  until  1792. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  115 

ELBRIDGE  GERRY. 

May  16,  1787,  Andrew  Cabot  conveyed  the  estate  to  Elbridge  Gerry,  a  sign- 
er of  the  Decluration  of  Independence,  and,  during  bis  residence  at  Elm- 
wood,  governor  of  Massachusetts  and  vice-president  of  the  United  States. 
Ninety-six  acres  were  sold  with  the  house.  Eleven  acres  of  the  upland  lay 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Charles  river,  now  Brighton,  then  a  part  of  Cam- 
bridge. The  salt  marsh  belonging  to  the  estate,  lay  on  both  sides  of  the 
river.  The  thirty-four  acres  accounted  as  belonging  toi  the  "homestead," 
stretched  northward  to  Fresh  Pond.  Gerry  was  born  at  Marblehead,  Mas- 
sachusetts, July  17,  1744,  and  began  his  political  life  in  1772,  as  a  represent- 
ative of  that  town  in  the  provincial  legislature.  Later,  he  was  an  influen- 
tial member  of  the  first  and  second  Continental  congresses.  His  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  the  secretary  of  congress,  Charles  Thomson,  of  Philadelphia.  She 
was  a  beautiful  lady,  educated  in  Europe,  and  descended,  on  her  mother's 
side,  from  one  of  the  old  families  of  New  York.  Gerry's  first  connection  with 
Cambridge  was  as  a  student  in  Harvard  College,  from  which  he  received  the 
A.B.  degree  in  1762.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  provincial  congress  which 
sat  in  Cambridge  in  February,  1775,  and  at  Watertown,  after  the  battle 
of  Lexington. 

A  fortnight  after  Gerry  obtained  title  to  Elmwood,  the  constitutional  con- 
vention, of  which  Gerry  was  a  member,  convened  in  Philadelphia.  Gerry, 
in  opposing  the  ratification  of  the  constitution,  found  himself  out  of  sym- 
pathy with  many  of  his  associates  and  with  the  community  in  which  he 
had  recently  come  to  live.  During  the  commencement  season  in  1788,  on 
July  3,  John  Adams  and  J.  Q.  Adams  "went  to  Mr.  Gerry's  and  passed  the 
evening.  We  found  Mrs.  Mercy  Warren  there,  and  were  in  the  midst  of  anti- 
federalism,  but  quite  in  good  humor.  My  father  had  promised  to  take  a  lodg- 
ing at  Judge  Dana's,  but  at  Mr.  Gerry's  invitation,  I  (John  Quincy  Adams) 
passed  the  night  at  his  house."  Gerry  was  not  one  of  the  "irreconcileables,"  and 
Middlesex  county  chose  him,  on  the  second  ballot,  its  representative  to  the 
first  congress.  After  four  years'  service,  he  declined  re-election  and  passed 
the  next  four  years  quietly  on  his  "farm."  There  he  was  noted  for  his  hos- 
pitality. He  entertained  many  distinguished  visitors,  and,  also,  endeared  him- 
self to  the  students  of  Harvard  College.  It  has  been  said  that  he  was  particu- 
larly interested  in  the  development  of  young  minds,  while  his  benevolent 
feelings  and  affable  manners  in  the  home,  charmed  the  home  circle.  In  1797, 
he  was  chosen  a  presidential  elector,  and  was  pleased  to  cast  his  vote  for  his 
old  friend,  John  Adams.  Under  appointment  by  Adams  as  commissioner 
to  France,  he  embarked  at  Boston  and  did  not  again  touch  American  soil 
until  October  1,  1798.  Bitterly  criticised  for  remaining  in  Paris  after  his  col- 
leagues,   Marshall   and   Pickney,    left,   his   family   in   Cambridge   suffered   much 


116  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

anxiety  for  his  fate,  and  many  annoyances.  Colonel  James  T.  Austin  (H.  C. 
1802),  whose  acquaintance  with  the  family  dated  from  undergraduate  days 
at  Harvard,  and  who  married  Gerry's  daughter,  Catherine,  writes  in  his 
life  of  Gerry  that  'on  several  occasions  the  morning's  sun  shone  upon  the 
model  of  a  guillotine  erected  in  the  field  before  her  window,  smeared  with 
blood,  and  having  the  effigy  of  a  headless  man.  Savage  yells  were  uttered 
in  the  night  time  to  disturb  the  sleep  of  this  family  of  females,  and  the 
glare  of  blazing  fagots  suddenly  broke  upon  its  darkness,  to  terrify  them 
with   apprehensions   of  immediate   conflagration." 

From  the  direct  tax  of  1798  it  is  learned  that,  just  before  his  return, 
two  farmers  were  living  in  Gerry's  estates  in  Cambridge.  Benjamin  Prentice 
was  tenant  of  ninety-eight  acres,  with  a  house,  barns  and  mill;  William 
Packard,  of  seventy-flve  acres,  with  house  and  barns.  Gerry's  family  occu- 
pied the  "Mansion  House"  and  two  acres  of  land  valued  at  $5,370;  the 
dwelling  houses  of  the  tenant  farmers,  with  40  rods  of  land  annexed  to  each, 
were  valued  at  only  $270  and  $425,  respectively.  On  his  return  from  France, 
Gerry  retired  to  the  care  of  his  family  and  farm  in  Cambridge.  A  friend, 
for  whom  he  had  been  surety  to  a  large  am^ount,  failed  and  left  him  with 
a  weight  of  obligations,  from  which  he  never  fully  extricated  himself. 
"Notwithstanding  this  and  the  illness  of  his  wife  which  extended  over 
a  period  of  years  and  caused  him  much  anxiety  and  care,  the  occasional 
visitor  of  distinction  at  this  mansion  was  delighted  with  the  cheerfulness 
of  his  manners,  the  ease  and  freedom  of  his  conversation  abounding  in 
anecdote  and  the  recital  of  by-gone  events,  piquant  and  full  of  wit,  which, 
under  the   control   of  good   feelings,   never   inflicted   a   voluntary   wound." 

He  was  the  unsuccessful  candidate  for  governor  in  1798  and  in  1801.  He 
was  elected  governor  of  Massachusetts  in  1810,  and  re-elected  in  1811, 
after  very  exciting  canvasses.  As  governor,  he  received  the  degree  of  liLi.D. 
from  Harvard  College  in  1810.  He  was  a  member  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences.  In  1812  he  was  elected  vice-president  of  the  United 
States,  but  in  the  second  year  of  his  service,  when  seventy  years  of  age, 
he  died  on  his  way  to  the  senate  chamber  in  Washington,  leaving  a  widow, 
three  sons,  and  six  daughters.  He  was  interred  in  the  congressional  burial 
ground.  A  monument  erected  by  special  act  of  congress  marks  his  grave. 
His  motto,  engraved  on  this  monument,  was:  "Every  man,  though  he  may 
have  but  one  day  to  live,  should  devote  that  day  to  the  good  of  his  country." 


THE  LOWELL  FAMILY. 

In  1818,  the  Rev.  Charles  Lowell,  pastor  of  the  West  Street  Congregational 
Church  in  Boston  (1806-1845),  purchased  the  "Mansion  House"  of  Elbridge 
Gerry,  with  a  few  adjoining  acres  from  his  widow,  and  there,  on  Febniary  22, 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  117 

of  the  following'  year,  was  born  James  Russell  Lowell,  the  youngest  in  a 
household  of  four  brothers  and  two  sisters.  Of  the  father,  Charles  Eliot  Norton 
writes:  "His  presence  was  striking  and  comely,  and  his  looks  and  manners 
corresponded  in  their  benignity  with  the  sweet  simplicity  of  Iiis  nature.  As  a 
clergyman,  he  was  unusually  beloved,  and  he  discharged  his  clerical  duties 
with  devout  fidelity  and  with  quick  and  tender  sympathies.  He  was  a  lover  of 
books  and  he  possessed  more  culture,  both  literary  and  social,  than  most  of 
the  clergy,  his  contemporaries."  Grandson  of  the  first  Congregational  minister 
in  Newburyport  and  son  of  John  Lowell,  LL.D.,  the  noted  lawyer  and  judge, 
he  was  born  in  Boston,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  (ISOO),  read  law  for  a 
few  months,  then  (1802)  went  toi  Europe  and  studied  theology  and  medicine  in 
Edinburgh.  His  "nature  was  hospitable  and  his  family  connection  so  wide 
that  his  son,  the  poet,  saw  from  early  youth  a  pleasant  side  of  social  life." 
His  mother  was  touched  with  something  of  tlie  romance  and  northern  min- 
strelsy of  the  solitary  Orkney  Isles  from  which  her  family  came,  and  oJd 
songs  and  poetic  lore  were  famihar  to  tlie  children  of  the  house  from  their 
cradles.  Cambridge  was  still  a  village,  and  Fresh  Pond  "the  haunt  of  herons 
and  other  shy  birds  and  land-creatures"  when  the  poet  was  born.  In  "Cam- 
bridge Thirty  Years  Ago"  he  describes  tlie  scene  from  the  hill  by  the  river. 

In  the  introduction  to  the  Biglow  Papers,  he  describes  how,  as  a  tiny  lad, 
"the  cart  of  Neighbor  Pomeroy,  trundling  from  the  mart"  sometimes  shortened 
his  "caper  homeward"  from  the  dameschool  until, 

"Dropped  at  the  corner  of  the  embowered  lane, 

Whistling,  I  wade  the  knee-deep  leaves  again. 
While  eager  Argus,  who  has  missed  all  day 

The  sharer  of  his  condescending  play. 
Comes  leaping  onward  with  a  bark  elato 

And  boisterous  tail  to  greet  me  at  the  gate; 
That  I  was  true  in  absence  to  our  love 

Let  the  thick  dog's-ears  in  my  primer  prove." 

"A  handsome  boy  and  his  mother's  darling,"  fond  of  the  out-door  world,  he 
spent  an  exceptionally  happy  childhood  in  the  fields  and  woods  about  Elmwood. 

In  1844,  Lowell  married  Maria  White,  a  sister  of  a  Harvard  classmate.  After 
four  months  spent  in  Philadelphia,  he  brought  her  home  to  Elmwood.  A 
visitor  from  across  the  sea,  Fredrica  Bremer,  thus  pictures  the  family  life: 

"The  whole  family  assembles  every  day  for  morning  and  evening  prayers 
aroaind  the  venerable  old  man;  and  he  it  is  who  blesses  every  meal.  His 
prayers,  which  are  always  extempore,  are  full  of  the  true  and  inward  life, 
and  I  felt  them  as  a  pleasant,  refreshing  dew  upon  my  head,  and  seldom  arose 
from  my  knees  with  dry  eyes.  With  him  live  his  youngest  son,  the  poet, 
and  his  wife;— such  a  handsome  and  happy  young  couple  as  one  can  hardly 
imagine.  He  is  full  of  life  and  youthful  ardor;  she  as  gentle,  as  delicate, 
as  fair  as  a  lily,  and  one  of  the  most  lovable    women     that    I    have     seen     in 


118  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

this  country,  because  her  beauty  is  so  full  of  soul  and  grace  as  is  everything 
which  she  does  or  says.  Occassionally  he  is  gay,  witty  and  brilliant,  and  liis 
talk  is  like  an  incessant  play  of  fireworks.  I  find  him  very  agreeable  and 
amiable;  he  seems  to  have  many  friends,  mostly  young  men.  There  is  a  trace 
of  beauty  in  everything  Mrs.  Lowell  touches,  whether  of  mind  or  body;  above 
all,  she  beautifies  life. — She  reads  her  husband's  poetry  charmingly  well." 

Four  little  ones  came  to  this  couple.  Of  Blanche,  the  eldest,  named  for  his 
wife's  family — White — he  wrote:  "My  father  loved  her  so  that  he  almost  broke 
his  heart  in  endeavoring  to  console  Maria  when  it  was  at  last  decided  that 
the  dear  child  was  not  to  be  spared  to  us."  l?VTien  the  poet  died  in  1S91,  her 
tiny  shoes — the  only  ones  she  ever  wore — hung  over  a  picture  in  his  chamber. 
One  little  one.  Rose,  was  buried  at  Mount  Auburn,  whither  the  wife  was 
also  borne  in  1853.  The  only  son,  "Walter,  lies  in  Rome.  Mabel,  the  second 
child,  lived  to  be  married  at  Elmwood  and  to  return  thither  in  ISSa  with  her 
father,  the  poet,  and  a  son,  just  entering  college.  For  nearly  ten  years  Low- 
ell had  been  absent  from  Cambridge — in  the  diplomatic  service  in  Spain  and 
England,  and  at  his  daughter's  home  in  Southboro — Ole  Bull,  the  famous  vio- 
linist, occupying  the  house  during  this  absence. 

Through  Lowell's  letters,  edited  by  Charles  Eliot  Norton,  happy  glimpses  are 
gained  of  almost  every  room  in  the  house.  In  1848,  he  thus  describes  his 
first  study  at  Elmwood:  "Here  I  am  in  my  garret.  I  slept  here  when  I  was 
a  curly-headed  boy,  and  in  it  I  used  to  be  shut  up  without  a  lamp — my  motlier 
saying  none  of  her  children  should  be  afraid  of  the  dark. — It  is  a  pleasant 
room  facing — almost  equally — towards  the  morning  and  the  afternoon  sun.  In 
winter  I  can  see  the  sunset,  in  summer  I  can  see  it  only  as  it  lights  up  the 
tall  trunks  of  the  English  elms  in  front  of  the  house,  making  them  sometimes, 
when  the  sky  behind  them  is  lead-colored,  seem  of  the  most  brilliant  yellow. 
In  winter,  my  view  is  a  wide  one,  taking  in  a  part  of  Boston. — As  the  spring 
advances  and  one  after  the  other  of  our  trees  puts  forth,  the  landscape  is 
cut  off  from  me,  piece  by  pieccy  till,  by  the  end  of  May,  I  am  closeted  in  a 
cool  and  rustic  privacy  of  leaves.  Then  I  begin  to  bud  with  the  season,  when 
I  can  sit  at  my  open  window  and  my  friendly  leaves  hold  their  hands  before 
my  eyes  to  prevent  their  wandering  to  the  landscape.  I  can  sit  down  and 
write." 

In  1873  Lowell  wrote  from  Paris  to  Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich,  who  was  occupy- 
ing Elmwood  in  his  absence:  "It  is  a  pleasant  old  house,  isn't  it?  Doesn't  el- 
bow one,  as  it  were.  It  will  make  a  frightful  conservative  of  you  before  you 
know  it.  It  was  bom  a  Tory  and  will  die  so.  Don't  get  too  used  to  it.  I  often  wish 
I  had  not  grown  into  it  so.  I  am  not  happy  anywhere  else."  In  1875:  "I  am 
sitting  now  with  Fanny  sewing  beside  me,  on  our  new  veranda,  which  we 
built  last  fall  on  the  north  side  of  the  house.— The  catalpa  is  just  coming  into 
blossom,  and  the  chestnut  hard  by  is  hoary  with  blossoms.    A  quail  is  calling 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAIMBRIDGE  119 

'Bob  "WTiite'  over  in  the  field,  butterflies  are  sliimmering  over  Fanny's  flowers, 
robins   are   singing   with  all   their   might,   and   there   will   come   a  humming- 
bird before  long.    I  see  the  masts  in  the  river  and  the  spires  in  the  town." 
In  1857  be  married  for  his  second  wife  Frances  Dunlap,  of  Portland,   Maine. 

Of  lier,  Stillman  says:  "She  was  of  a  dark  beauty,  with  a  fine,  sub- 
tle faculty  of  appreciation,  serious  and  tender,  which  was  to  him  healing  from 
sorrow  and  a  defence  against  all  trouble,  a  very  spring  of  life  and  hope."  In 
August,  1S75,  he  writes:  "My  view  is  very  dear  to  me,  for  it  is  what  my  eyes 
first  looked  upon,  and  I  trust  will  look  on  last.  A  group  of  tall  pines  planted 
by  my  father,  and  my  life-long  friends,  murmurs  to  me  as  I  write. — A  horse- 
chestnut,  of  which  I  planted  tlie  seed  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  lifts  its  huge 
stack  of  shade  before  me  and  loves  me  with  its  leaves. — I  should  be  as  happy 
as  a  humming-bird  were  I  not  printing  anotlier  volume  of  essays." 

In  1S90,  in  his  seventy-first  year,  he  thus  describes  the  house:  " 'Tis  a 
pleasant  old  house  just  about  twice  as  old  as  I  am,  fooir  miles  from  Boston, 
in  what  was  once  the  coi;ntry  and  is  now  a  populous  suburb.  But  it  still  has 
some  ten  acres  of  open  about  it,  and  some  fine  old  trees.  It  is  a  square  house 
with  four  rooms  on  a  floor,  like  some  houses  of  the  Georgian  era  I  have  seen 
in  English  provincial  towns,  only  they  are  of  brick  and  this  is  of  wood.  But  it 
is  solid  with  its  heavy  oaken  beams,  the  spaces  between  which  in  the  four 
walls  are  filled  in  with  brick,  though  you  must  not  fancy  a  brick-and-timber 
house,  for  outwardly  it  is  sheathed  with  wood.  Inside  there  is  much  wainscot 
(of  deal)  painted  white  in  the  fashion  of  the  time  it  was  built.  It  Is  very 
sunny—.  There  is  a  pretty  staircase  with  the  quaint  old  twisted  banisters—. 
My  library  occupies  two  rooms,  opening  into  each  other  by  arches  at  the  sides 
of  the  ample  chimneys.  The  trees  I  look  out  on  are  the  earliest  things  I 
remember.  The  two  old  English  elms  in  front  of  the  house  haven't  changed— 
the  sturdy  islanders,  a  trifle  thicker  in  the  waist  perhaps,  as  is  the  wont 
of  prosperous  elders,  but  looking  just  as  I  first  saw  them  seventy  years  ago, 
and  it  is  a  balm  to  my  eyes!  There  you  have  me  in  my  new  old  quarters. 
But  you  must  not  fancy  a  large  house — rooms  sixeen  feet  square  and,  on 
the  ground  floor,  nine  high.  It  was  large  as  things  went  here  when  it 
was  built,  and  has  a  certain  air  of  amplitude  about  it  as  from  some  inward 
sense  of  dignity." 

Lowell's  library  comprised  some  7,600  volumes,  among  them  many  valuable 
editions  added  during  his  years  of  diplomatic  service  at  Madrid  and  London. 
Leslie  Stephen  describes  the  pleasant  hours  he  spent  in  the  Elmwood  study 
during  his  visit  to  Cambridge  in  1863:  "I  remember,  with  a  curious  vividness, 
the  chairs  in  which  we  sat  by  the  fire-place  in  the  study.  I  look  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  'Under  the  Willows'  and  feel  that  I,  too,  have  heard  his  'Elmwood 
chimney'.s'  deep-throated  roar,  and,  indeed,  can  almost  hear  it  still.  All  around 
us  were  the  crowded  book-shelves,  whose  appearance  showed  them  to  be  the 


120  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

companions  of  the  true  literary  workman — students'  tools,  no tmere ornamental 
playthings.  He  would  sit  among-  his  books,  pipe  in  mouth,  a  book  in  hand, 
hour  after  hour!  And  I  was  soon  intimate  enough  to  sit  by  him  and  enjoy 
intervals  of  silence  as  well  as  periods  of  discussion  and  always  delightful  talk, 
I  feel  as  though  I  could  walk  up  to  the  shelves  and  put  my  hand  upon 
any  of  the  books  which  served  as  texts  or  perhaps  as  mere  accidental  starting- 
places  for  innumerable  discussions — would  suggest  occasional  flashes  of  the 
playful  or  penetrative  criticism  which  is  so  charming  in  his  writings,  and 
which  was  yet  more  charming  as  it  came  quick  from  the  brain.  Or  he  would 
look  from  his  'study  windows'  and  dwell  lovingly  upon  the  beauties  of  the 
American  Elm  or  the  gambols  of  the  gray  squirrel  on  the  lawn.  "When  I  was 
last  at  Elmwood,  in  1890,  the  sight  of  these  squirrels  (or  their  descendants) 
took  me  back  twenty-seven  years  at  a  bound,  and  I  was  pleased  to  find  how 
dear  was  the  vision  of  the  old  days.  To  see  Lowell  in  his  home  and  the 
home  of  his  father  was  to  realize  more  distinctly  what  is  indeed  plain  enough 
in  all  his  books — how  deeply  he  had  struck  his  roots  into  his  native  earth. 
Cosmopolitan  as  he  was  in  knowledge,  with  the  literature  not  only  of  England, 
but  of  France  and  Italy  at  his  fingers'  ends,  the  genuine  Yankee,  the  Hosea 
Biglow,  was  never  far  below  the  surface.  Lowell's  ardent  belief  in  his  nation 
was,  to  an  outsider,  a  revelation  of  greatness  both  in  the  object  of  his  affections 
and  in  the  man  who  could  feel  thero.  The  'Commemoration  Ode,'  with  its  fine 
passages  upon  the  necessity  of  the  poet  'keeping  measure  with  his  people'  ex- 
plains all  this  far  better  than  any  clumsy  analysis  of  mine.  At  that  time, 
when  the  passions  roused  by  the  war  were  at  their  height,  and  every  day 
brought  news  to  mal:e  patriots'  nerves  quiver,  I  had  naturally  opportunities 
to  see  Lowell's  true  feeling  and  to  admire  his  profound  faith  in  the  success 
of  the  good  cause,  in  whose  defense  he  himself  had  lost  his  three  nephews. 

At  this  time  Lowell's  study  was  the  rear  room  at  the  left  of  the  hall.  In 
1S76,  Lowell  wrote:  "I  have  changed  my  quarters,  and  moved  out  of  the  library 
into  the  front  room  where  a  long  window  gives  me  more  breeze,  and  where 
I  shall  have  the  morning  sun  in  winter,  which  I  crave  more  as  I  grow  older." 
His  easy  chair  still  (1906)  stands  beside  this  window.  His  desk  is  near  at 
hand,  while  above  the  fire-place  is  the  lifelike  and  exquisitely  lovely  portrait  of 
Maria  White  Lowell.  The  poet's  grandchildren,  the  fourth  generation  of  the 
Lowell  family  to  occupy  the  house,  preserve  the  house  and  grounds  and  many 

memorials  of  the  poet. 

L.  B.  C. 

HOME   OF  COLONEL    SAMUEL    THATCHER. 

Opposite  Elmwood,  on  what  is  now  the  corner  of  Mount  Auburn  street  and 
Coolidge  avenue,  stood  the  Thatcher  homestead.  Deacon  Samuel  Thatcher, 
selectman  and  representative,  who  died  in  16C9,  came  from  England  and  set- 
tled here.  His  son,  Samuel  Thatcher,  Jr.,  who  married  Mary  Farnsworth  and 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  121 

was  a  lieutenant  in  the  militia,  inherited  the  estate  and  left  it,  in  1726,  to  his 
son,  Ebenezer,  born  in  1704  and  married  in  1732  to  Susanna  Spring.  He  was  a 
weaver,  and  died  about  1753.  His  son.  Colonel  Samuel  Thatcher,  was  born  here 
and  baptized  November  5,  1732.  He  married  Mary  Brown,  of  Lexington,  and 
had  two  sons  who  graduated  at  Harvard  College.  Samuel,  born  in  1776,  gradu- 
ated in  1793,  moved  to  Warren,  Maine,  became  a  member  of  Congress,  1801-5, 
and  held  many  offices  of  trust.  Ebenezer,  H.  C.  179S,  was  a  lawyer  at  Thom- 
aston,  Maine,  and  married  Lucy  F.,  daughter  of  General  Henry  Knox. 

Colonel  Samuel  Thatcher  was  one  of  tlie  most  active  citizens  of  Cambridge 
in  the  Revolutionary  period.  On  the  organization  of  the  Committee  of  Cor- 
respondence, December  14,  1772,  he  was  elected  a  member.  On  November  26, 
1773,  this  committee  adopted  a  series  of  resolutions,  one  of  which  was:  "That 
this  town  can  no  longer  stand  idle  spectators,  but  are  ready,  on  the  shortest 
notice,  to  join  with  the  town  of  Boston  and  other  towns,  in  any  measure  that 
may  be  thought  proper,  to  deliver  ourselves  and  posterity  from  slavery."  All 
the  resolutions  of  this  committee  were  intensely  patriotic,  so  it  is  not  sur- 
prising to  find  Samuel  Thatcher  enrolled  among  the  Minute  Men.  When  Gen- 
eral Brattle  gave  place  to  Thomas  Gardner,  who  was  chosen  commander  of 
the  militia,  the  First  Middlesex  Regiment,  Thatcher,  who  had  been  lieutenant, 
was  promoted  to  be  captain. 

On  the  night  of  the  eighteenth  of  April,  1775,  the  lantern  was  hung  out  on  the 
steeple  of  the  old  North  Church,  Boston,  and  Paul  Revere  and  others  started 
on  their  rides  to  alarm  the  inhabitants  of  the  adjoining  towns.  The  expe- 
dition under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Smith  landed  at  Lechmere  Point.  News  was 
brought  to  the  centre  of  the  town  and  the  militia,  under  Captain  Thatrfier, 
was  among  the  foremost  to  sally  forth  for  the  public  defense.  They  pursued 
the  foe  very  early  in  the  morning  and  were  in  the  fight  throughout  the  day. 

Colonel  Thomas  Gardner  died  of  the  wounds  received  at  the  Battle  of 
Bunker  Hill,  and  Captain  Thatcher  succeeded  him  in  command  of  the  regi- 
ment and  executed  all  the  duties  required.  He  did  not  see  much  active  ser- 
vice, but  was  always  a  patriot.  During  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  he  resided 
on  the  westerly  corner  of  Moiint  Auburn  and  Boylston  streets.  He  was 
selectman,  treasurer  and  representative  and,  while  holding  these  offices,  he 
died  suddenly  of  apoplexy,  June  27,  1786.  His  heirs  sold  the  homestead,  on 
the  corner  of  Coolidge  Avenue,  to  Governor  Gerry,  April  4,  1793.       I.  S.  W. 

SITE  OF  HOUSE  OF  JOHN   VASSALL,    SENIOR. 

On  the  rise  of  land  overlooking  the  river,  to  the  east  of  the  old  road  (now 
Elmwood  avenue),  and  south  of  Mount  Auburn  street.  Colonel  John  Vassall, 
the  elder,  built  a  house  for  himself  after  he  had  sold  his  home  on  Brattle 
street  to  his  brother,  Henry  Vassall.  Here  he  lived  with  his  second  wife, 
Lucy,  only  daughter  of  Jonathan  Barron,  of  Chelmsford,  and  here  he  died, 
Novem^ber  27,  1747.    His  daughter,  Lucy,  was  born  here  just  twelve  days  before 


122  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

her  father's  death.  She  married  John  Lavincourt,  of  Antigua.  John  Vassall's 
widow  married  Benjiimin  Ellery,  November  22,  1749,  and  died  tliree  years  later. 
No  trace  of  the  house  exists  and  it  is  not  even  known  what  its  appearance  was. 

A  rise  near  the  river,  dug  down  not  many  years  since,  was  long  known  as 
Simon's  Hill,  so  called  from  Simon  Stone,  the  first  owner,  who  settled  here 
in  1634.  He  was  a  brother  of  Gregory  Stone.  This  part  of  Cambridge  was 
later  called  Sweet  Auburn,  and  the  name  is  connected  with  two  authoresses 
of  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Caroline  Howard,  daughter  of 
Samuel  Howard,  a  shipwright  of  North  square,  Boston,  one  of  the  men  who 
threw  over  the  tea  in  Boston  Harbor,  lived  here  with  her  widowed  mother. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  she  wrote  "Jephtha's  Rash  Vow"  and  other  poems. 
In  1819,  she  married  Rev.  Samuel  Oilman,  author  of  "Fair  Harvard,"  and 
went  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  where  her  husband  was  settled  as  the  pastor  of  the 
Unitarian  church.  Her  best  known  book  was  "The  Recollections  of  a  South- 
ern Matron."  Mrs.  Howard's  white  cottage  stood  in  the  northeasterly  corner 
of  what  is  now  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery.  Another  daughter  of  Mrs.  Howard 
married  Mr.  White  and  was  the  mother  of  Maria  White,  the  first  wife  of  James 
Russell   Lowell. 

Caroline  P.  Orne  published  in  1844,  a  book  of  poems  entitled  "Sweet  Au- 
burn," in  which  she  described  this  neighborhood.  She  was  a  descendant  of 
Simon  Stone  and  lived  on  the  Stone  estate.  Another  book  of  hers  was  called 
"Morning  Songs  of  American  Freedom.".  Miss  Ome  was  a  valued  member  of 
the  Hannah  Winthrop  Chapter.    She  died  in  1905.  M.  I.  J.  G. 

THE  COMMON. 

The  historic  interest  of  Cambridge  Common  dates  back  from  the  earliest 
settlement  of  the  town  by  Winthrop  and  his  followers,  in  1630.  In  their  plan 
of  the  new  town,  they  reserved  a  large  tract  of  land,  or  "town  commons,"  for 
public  use. 

The  northwest  part,  covering  the  site  of  the  present  common  and  extending 
as  far  as  Linnaean  street,  was  set  apart  for  the  safe  keeping  of  milch  cows  at 
night  and  was  called  the  Cow  Common.  The  value  of  this  place  of  security  for 
their  cattle  is  indicated  by  the  numerous  entries  in  the  early  town  records, 
which  show  the  strict  rules  to  which  their  owners  were  subject  and  the  care 
taken  to  protect  these  milch  cows,  not  only  from  Indians  and  wolves,  but 
from  the  incursion  of  other  domestic  animals.  However  vital  a  factor  was 
the  safety  of  their  milch  cows  to  the  infant  settlement,  the  common  was  de- 
voted to  quite  other  purposes. 

It  was  intended,  primarily,  for  a  training  ground  for  the  militia;  and 
previous  to  16S6  all  able-bodied  men  were  obliged  to  do  military  service.  The 
common  was  also  the  forum  of  the  embryo  city.  After  the  English  fashion, 
elections  were  held  here  in  the  open  air;  and,  in  times  of  excitement,  the 
people  of  the  town  and  from  all  parts  of  the  county    flocked  thither  to  dis- 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  123 

cuss  the  matter  in  dispute  and  to  air  their  grievances.  One  of  the  most 
memorable  occasions  of  this  kind  was  in  1637,  when  the  colony  was  nearly 
rent  in  twain  over  the  Hutchinson  controversy.  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson, 
the  "first  strong-minded  woman  in  New  England  history,"  had  by  her  brilliant 
attacks  on  Puritan  theology,  brought  under  her  spell  many  prominent  men, 
among  themi  the  young  governor,  Sir  Henry  Vane.  Ex-Governor  "Winthrop 
was  opposed  to  her,  as  a  disturber  of  the  peace.  At  that  thne,  "the  church 
was  the  state  and  the  state  was  the  church."  None  but  church  members 
were  allowed  to  vote  on  any  political  question,  and  the  election  of  gov- 
ernor,  then  pending,   turned  upon  this  theological  issue. 

THE  OLD  OAK. 

Cambridge  was  then  the  seat  of  government,  and  the  election  of  chief 
magistrate  was  to  be  held  under  a  certain  oak  on  the  common.  The  ad- 
herents of  Vane  and  Winthrop,  the  opposing  candidates,  gathered  ih  force 
and  excitement  ran  high,  so  that  violence  was  feared.  At  the  height  of 
the  tumult,  Rev.  John  Wilson,  pastor  of  the  Boston  church,  where  the 
trouble  centered,  in  spite  of  his  forty-nine  years  and  large  bulk,  climbed 
into  the  old  oak  and,  from  that  point  of  vantage,  addressed  the  people  to 
such  good  purpose  that  quiet  was  restored  and  the  election  proceeded,  re- 
sulting in  favor  of  Ex-Governor  Winthrop.  This  famous  oak  was  on  the 
east  side  of  the  common,  opposite  Holmes  place,  and  on  the  site  of  this 
tree  the  park  commission  have  planted  an  elm  grown  from  the  seed  of  the 
renowned  Washington  Elm. 

Another  historic  landmark  on  the  old  common  was  the  "Whitefield  tree," 
which  stood  on  the  northwest  side  of  the  common,  a  few  rods  from  the  Wash- 
ington Elm.  In  1740,  the  Wesleyan  evangelist,  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  vis- 
ited Cambridge.  "This  mighty  warrior  of  the  church  militant"  had 
preached  with  great  boldness  and  vehemence,  denouncing  the  New  England 
clergy  as  lacking  in  piety,  and  was  especially  severe  upon  Harvard  College 
for  its  low  standard  of  morals. 

It  was  not  thought  wise  to  admit  him  to  the  pulpit  of  the  Cambridge 
church,  but  he  gathered  large  audiences  in  the  open  air,  under  the  old  elm. 
His  preaching  is  characterized  as  "powerful  and  awakening"  and  the  fruits 
of  his  labors  a  "general  shaking  of  dry  bones  in  town  and  college."  The 
Whitefield  tree  remained  standing,  ou  Garden  street,  a  little  north  of  Water- 
house  street,  until  1872,  when,  on  account  of  its  impeding  public  travel,  it 
was  removed  by  the  city. 

In  September,  1774,  there  occurfed  on  the  common  one  of  those  stirring 
scenes  which  preceded  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution.  A  crowd  of  two 
thousand  determined  men,  freeholders  from  all  parts  of  Middlesex  county, 
collected  on  Cambridge  Common  to  demand  and  enforce  the  resignation  of 
the     crown     ofRcers — Lieutenant-Governor   Oliver   and   Judges   Danforth   and 


IM  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

Lee,  residents  of  Cambridge,  the  appointment  of  whom,  by  the  king,  the 
colonists  regarded  as  a  violation  of  their  charter.  There  was  great  excite- 
ment and  indignation  on  the  part  of  the  people,  and  their  attitude  was  so 
firm  that  the  officers  thought  it  prudent  to  comply  with  their  demands, 
although  under  protest. 

A  few  months  later,  on  April  19,  1775,  an  armed  gathering  of  yeomanry 
rendezvoused  on  Cambridge  Common  to  dispute  the  passage  of  Percy's 
troops  on  their  return  from  Concord.  The  Revolution  was  then  fairly  be- 
gun, and  the  first  Revolutionary  camp  was  on  Cambridge  Common.  Here 
the  first  Revolutionary  army  was  organized.  Here  the  patriots  gathered 
from  all  parts  of  New  England,  from  the  farm,  the  forge  and  the  workshop — 
equipped  only  with  the  rudest  weapons,  but  ready  to  stake  their  lives  for 
liberty. 

On  June  16,  1775,  Colonel  Prescott  and  his  Spartan  band  of  one  thousand 
men  were  drawn  up  on  this  common  and  received  marching  orders.  Paus- 
ing only  at  the  gambrel-roofed  house  from  whose  doorstep  President  Lang- 
don,  of  Harvard  College,  commended  them  and  their  enterprise  to  the  care 
of  Almighty  God,  they  hurried  on  to  Bunker  Hill  and  to  that  confiict  of 
blood  and  fire,  which  made  "the  liberties  of  the  people  safe"  and  conse- 
crated  the   heights  of   Charlestown   as  a  sacred   shrine. 

THE  WASHINGTON  ELM. 

When  Washington  arrived  in  Cambridge,  he  found  nine  thousand  militia 
encamped  in  tents  on  Cambridge  Common,  and  here,  under  the  famous  elm, 
he  took  formal  command  of  the  American  army. 

Among  the  treasures  of  historic  interest  in  the  town,  this  tree  is  our 
most  precious  relic — the  Washington  Elm.  Its  well  founded  traditions  have 
been  sung  by  our  own  poets,  Lowell  and  Holmes,  and  the  hallowed  mem- 
ories of  the  "simple  great  ones,"  who  have  stood  within  its  shade,  make 
this  a  sacred  as  well  as  historic  shrine.  Until  recently,  included  in  the  Cam- 
bridge Common,  tliis  venerable  monarch  of  past  ages,  guarded  and  cherished 
by  the  loving  care  of  the  city  fathers,  now  stands  in  a  little  court  of  its 
own,  in  Garden  street,  which  borders  the  common  on  the  south.  Though 
shorn  of  its  former  wealth  of  overhanging  branches,  its  weakness  sup- 
ported by  bands  and  braces,  this  "brave  old  tree"  is  dear  to  the  heart  of 
every  citizen  and  every  child  of  the  city.  Every  summer,  thousands  of  pil- 
grims  visrt   this   only   living  memorial  of  a  glorious  historic  event. 

On  a  massive  granite  block  at  its  feet  is  recorded  the  simple  legend: 

"Under     this        tree 

Washington 

First     took    command 

of   the 

American  Army 

July  3d,  1775." 


MAP  C. 

56.  Barnabas  Lamson-Francis-Joshua  Gamage-Moses  Richardson-Royal  Morse. 

57.  Richard  Parks-John  Green-Nathaniel  Hill-Nathaniel  Hancock-Caleb  Gannett. 

58.  John  Meane-Hastings. 

59.  William  Vassall-Rev.  Winwood  Sarjeant-Dr.  Benjamin  Waterhoiuse-William 

Ware. 
59a.  Old  Tavern, 

60.  Cooper's  shop. 

61.  Golden    Moore-Abraham    Hill-Deacon    Josiah    Moore-Dr.    Timothy    Lindall 

Jennison. 

62.  Henry  Prentice  House-Ireland-Fay  House-Radcliffe  College. 

63.  Prentice-Molly  Hancock  House. 

64.  Fourth  and  Fifth  School-house. 

65.  Christ  Church. 

66.  Rev.    Jabez    Fox-Jonathan    Hastings,    Jr.-General    Ward's    Headquarters- 

Holmes  House-Birthplace  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

67.  Danforth-Foxcroft  Estate. 


Eltn 


0(d  BuT^inc 
Gtvoun 


CaTn bridge  Cormnon  lt^  I7/(). 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  125 

REVOLUTIONARY  BARRACKS— 1775-78. 

Barracks  were  built  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  common,  and  here,  for 
ten  months,  that  tireless  commander  labored  to  organize  the  motley  crowd 
of  undisciplined,  ununiformed  and  half-armed  provincials  into  an  army,  fit  to 
cope  with  regrulars.  Meanwhile,  the  siege  of  Boston  had  been  successfully 
accomplished;  and,  with  the  departure  of  the  British,  the  tide  of  war 
rolled  away  from  New  England  and  Cambridge  Common  resumed  its  peace- 
ful aspect. 

For  many  years  thereafter,  Cambridge  Common  presented  its  scenes  of 
greatest  activity  on  Commencement  Day  at  Harvard  College.  This  was  the 
great  gala  day  of  the  year  for  the  college.  People  came  from  all  parts  of 
the  state  to  enjoy  its  festivities.  The  common  was  almost  covered  over  with 
tents  offering  various  side  shows  and  booths  providing  refreshment.  The 
arrival  of  the  governor  and  his  military  escort  gave  color  and  tone  to 
the  scene,  and  the  literary  exercises  of  the  day,  in  the  church,  became 
secondary  to  the  attractions  of  the  common. 

In  1724,  the  common  was  reduced  within  the  boundary  of  Waterhouse 
street,  and,  in  1769,  it  was  granted  to  the  town  by  the  Proprietors  of  Com- 
mon Lands  on  certain  terms  and  conditions,  for  public  use  forever,  but  the 
vested  rights  of  the  town  were  not  complete  till  1828.  In  1830,  after  strong 
opposition  and  some  litigation,  the  present  common  was  fenced  in,  avenues 
were  laid  out,  trees  planted,  and  it  was  otherwise  beautified  at  the  private 
expense  of  Judge  Fay,  so  that  the  old  common  was  transformed  into  a  beau- 
tiful park,  now  the  pride  of  our  city. 

SOLDIERS'  MONUMENT. 

The  Civil  War  of  1861-'64  brought  to  the  front  another  race  of  heroes'  and 
again  Cambridge  was  first  in  the  country's  service.  Thirty  officers  and 
310  non-commissioned  officers  and  men  from  our  city  laid  down  their  lives 
for  a  united  country,  and,  in  their  honor,  the  city,  on  June  17,  1867,  laid 
the  comer  stone  of  the  fine  mionument  which  now  adorns  the  common.  The 
monument  was  designed  and  completed  by  the  Cobb  brothers,  themselves 
soldiers  in  the  war,  and  was  dedicated  fn  1870  with  appropriate  ceremonies. 
On  each  Memorial  Day  impressive  exercises  of  music  and  eulogy  are  held 
near  the  monument  and  throngs,  including  old  brothers  in  arms,  army  posts, 
and  womien  and  children,  bring  garlands  of  flowers  in  memory  of  the  dead 
heroes  whose  names  are  inscribed  on  the  tablets  of  the  monument. 

THE  CANNON. 

Near  by,  mounting  guard  on  the  green  sward,  are  three  ancient  cannon 
which  were  captured  by  Ethan  Allen,  at  Crown  Point,  in  1775,  and  were  a 
part   of    the    spoils    conveyed    to    Cambridge  by  General  Knox  on  "forty-two 


126  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

sleds  with  eighty  yoke  of  oxen."  Two  of  them  are  of  British  manufacture 
and  the  other  a  French  siege  grun,  probably  taken  in  the  conquest  of  Can- 
ada by  the  English.    These  guns  were  used  in  the  siege  of  Boston. 

JOHN  BRIDGE   STATUE. 

Like  a  sentinel  in  the  quiet  dignity  of  the  ideal  Puritan,  stands,  at  the 
northern  end  of  the  common,  the  bronze  statue  of  John  Bridge,  one  of  the 
earliest  settlers  of  Cambridge,  a  man  who  held  many  positions  of  honor 
and  trust.  His  descendant,  Samuel  J.  Bridge,  in  1882  presented  this  statue, 
by  Daniel  French,  to  the  city.  This  noble  figure,  representing  the  very 
"Beginnings  of  New  England,"  those  grim  old  cannon,  speaking  silently  of 
the  Revolutionary  period,  and  the  Soldiers'  Monument,  which  recalls  so 
vividly  the  Civil  "War  of  our  own  time,  are  interesting  links  in  the  history  of 
our  glorious  past. 

Where  is  there  a  spot  richer  In  historic  association  than  Cambridge 
Common?  M.    J.    B. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  MEMORIAL   GATEWAY. 

Standing  at  the  south  entrance  of  the  common  near  Christ  Church  is  the  George 
Washington  Memorial  Gateway,  erected  by  the  General  Society  Daughters  of 
the  Revolution.  It  is  built  of  Milford  pink  granite.  Two  massive  posts,  each 
surmounted  by  a  cap  and  ball,  form  the  gateway.  Extending  from  the  side  of 
each  post  is  a  solid  wall,  in  the  centre  panels  of  which,  at  a  height  of  about 
iive  feet,  are  inserted  bronze  tablets.  As  one  faces  the  gateway,  the  tablet  on 
the  left  reads:  "Near  this  spot  on  July  3d,  1775,  George  Washington  took  com- 
mand of  the  American  Army."  A  medallion  of  Washington  surrounded  by 
laurel  is  in  the  centre  of  this  tablet.  The  tablet  on  the  right  bears  the  inscrip- 
tion: "In  memory  of  this  event,  this  gateway  was  erected  A.  D,  October.  1906." 
Below  this  is  the  seal  of  the  society  with  a  background  of  palms.  At  right 
angles  to  these  walls  are  similar  walls  forming  a  three-sided  enclosure  with  a 
seat  at  the  base  of  each  side-wall.  At  the  top  of  the  posts  forming  an  arch,  is 
an  elaborately  designed  grille,  at  whose  apex  is  the  seal  of  the  Commonwealth. 
A  granolithic  floor  runs  from  the  fence  of  the  common  to  the  threshold  of  the 
gateway.  This  memorial  was  dedicated  October  19th,  1906,  with  appropriate 
exercises,  held  in  Christ  Church.  E.  H.  W. 

HENRY  PRENTICE  HOUSE. 

The  first  of  these  estates,  on  the  southeasterly  corner  of  Garden  and  Mason 
streets,  was  granted  in  1634  to  Guy  Banbridge,  who  died  in  1645.  Justice  Ban- 
liridge,  spinster,  exchanged  this  house  for  that  of  William  Towne,  sexton  of  the 
first  meeting-house,  when  the  new  meeting-house  was  built  on  Watch  Hill,  and 
he  no  longer  wished  to  live  on  Dunster  street.    His  stay  must  have  been  short, 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  127 

for  Henry  Prentice,  "the  emigrant,"  who  came  from  Sudbury,  died  here  in 
1654.  Prentice's  widow,  Joanna,  his  second  wife,  married  John  Gibson,  and 
became  step-mother  of  Rebecca  (Gibson)  Stearns  who,  says  Paige,  thought  her- 
self bewitched  by  Mary  Holman.  John  Prentice,  grandson  of  Henry,  resided 
here,  also  his  son  Henry,  styled  in  the  Records  "Henry  Prentice  third,"  and  in 
conversation,  "Cooper  Prentice."  He  married  (1)  Sarah,  daughter  of  Jacob  Hill, 
(2)  Susanna  Brown,  of  Watertown,  (3)  Eunice  Fitch,  of  Bedford,  and  died 
about  1797. 

FAY  HOUSE. 

John  Prentice,  his  son,  in  1806  sold  the  estate  to  Nathaniel  Ireland,  who, 
November  18,  1802,  had  married  Sally  Prentice. 

Ireland  paid  twelve  hundred  dollars  for  the  acre-and-a-quarter  of  land,  and 
built  the  house  now  known  as  Fay  House.  He  was  a  rraker  of  iron  work  for 
ships  and  lost  his  fortune  at  the  time  of  Jefferson's  embargo;  the  house  passed 
through  several  hands  and  the  title  was  finally  transferred  to  Joseph  McKean, 
professor  of  rhetoric  and  oratory  at  Harvard  College,  1809-1818,  who  owned  the 
place  in  1814.  His  daughter.  Amy  Elizabeth,  married  Joseph  E.  Worcester  (the 
lexicographer). 

After  the  death  of  Professor  McKean,  in  1818,  there  were  many  tenants 
in  rapid  succession.  Edward  Everett  being  here  in  1820-1821,  and  in  1835  it 
came,  by  purchase,  into  possession  of  Judge  Samuel  Phillips  Prescott  Fay, 
H.  C.  1798,  who  took  an  active  part  in  all  Cambridge  affairs  and  lived  here  much 
of  the  time  until  his  death  in  1856. 

At  one  time,  the  house  was  occupied  by  the  family  of  Francis  Dana,  Jr., 
whose  wife  was  Sophia,  daughter  of  Joseph  Willard,  president  of  Har- 
vard College;  their  daughter,  Sophia,  later  Mrs.  George  Ripley,  kept  a  girls' 
school  in  the  house.  In  1832,  Daniel  Davis  (long  solicitor-general  of  Massachu- 
setts), a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  lived  here  His  daughters  made  "Castle 
Corners,"  as  the  house  was  called,  famous  for  its  hospitality. 

Judge  Fay  rented  the  house  to  Richard  Sullivan,  of  Boston,  and  for  several 
years  after  1858  the  house  was  occupied  by  Richard  Sullivan,  Jr.  He 
brought  from  Maine  and  planted  in  the  yard  the  white  birch  still  standing 
there.  The  house  has  twice  been  enlarged  and  is  now  three  times  the 
original  size.  In  the  northwest  room  in  1836  Fair  Harvard  was  written  for  the 
celebration  of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  Harvard  College.  Its  author. 
Rev.  Samuel  Gilman,  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  a  brother-in-law  of  Judge  Fay,  was 
a  guest  of  the  house  on  this  occasion. 

RADCLIFFB  COLLEGE. 

In  1885,  this  estate  was  sold  by  the  daughter  of  Judge  Fay  to  the  "Society 
for  the  Collegiate  Instruction  of  Women,"  incorporated  in  1882.    Professors  and 


128  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

other  instructors  of  Harvard  College  give  the  courses  and  in  1894,  by  special  act 
of  the  legislature,  it  became  Radcliffe  College;  since  then,  the  women  receive 
at  commencement,  a  degree  equivalent  to  the  corresponding  degree  conferred 
upon  graduates  of  Harvard  College.  The  Radcliffe  degree  is  signed  by  the 
presidents  of  Radcliffe  College  and  of  Harvard  University. 

Fay  House  is  the  administration  building  and  also  contains  lecture  rooms. 
Several  new  buildings  have  been  added — the  gymnasium,  gift  of  Mrs.  Mary 
Hcmenway,  and  Agassiz  House,  the  place  for  social  meetings  of  the  students.  It 
also  contains  a  theatre,  a  lunch  room  and  club  rooms.  Radcliffe  College  now 
owns  most  of  the  land  bounded  by  Appian,  Garden,  Mason,  Brattle  and  James 
streets  and  the  Greenleaf  estate  on  the  opposite  side  of  Brattle  street  and 
Bertram  Hall,  with  grounds  on  Shepard  street. 

Henry  Prentice,  son  of  Thomas,  married  Katherine  Felch,  January  1728-9. 
Their  daughter,  Mary,  became  the  wife  of  Moses  Richardson  and  later  lived 
on  Holmes  place.  Henry,  styled  junior  on  the  Records,  with  reference  to  Deacon 
Henry  Prentice,  built  and  lived  in  a  house  on  the  easterly  side  of  Mason  street, 
where  Agassiz  House  now  stands.  This  house  was  later  occupied  by  Professor 
William  Daudridge  Peck,  first  professor  of  natural  history  (botany)  at  Harvard 
College,  1805-1822.  East  of  this  stood  the  only  school-house  in  Revolutionary 
times,  described  on  page  66,  and  next  it  the  house  occupied  by  John  Prentice 
until  his  death  in  1742,  afterwards  the  home  of  Mollie  Hancock,  see  page  67  note. 

M.  B.  F.  and  M.  I.  J.  G. 

CHRIST  CHimCH.     (B  and  C  65.) 

Christ  Church  has  always  been  one  of  the  most  familiar  landmarks  of  Cam- 
bridge. It  stands,  modest  and  unassuming,  facing  the  common,  and  is  very 
little  altered  from  its  appearance  in  the  early  days  of  its  history.  Our  own 
Cambridge  poet,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  who  was  born  within  sight  of  Christ 
Church,  wrote  of  it  lines  that  will  always  be  associated  lovingly  with  it,  and 
which  come  to  the  mind  at  once  as  one  looks  at  the  plain  little  brown  edifice: 

"Our  ancient  Church!   its  lowly  tower 

Beneath  the  loftier  spire 
Is  shadowed  when  the  sunset  hour 

Clothes  the  tall  shaft  in  fire. 
It  sinks  beyond  the  distant  eye 

Long  ere  the  glittering  vane 
High  wheeling  in  the  western  sky 

Has    faded    o'er    the  plain. 

"Like  Sentinel  and  Nun,  they  keep 

Their    vigil    on    the  green: 
One  seems  to  guard,  and  one  to  weep, 
The   dead   that   lie   between: 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  129 

And    both    roll    out    so  full  and  near 
Their  music's  mingling:   waves 
They  shake  the  grass,    whose    pennoned    spear 
Leans    o'er    the    narrow  graves." 

After  about  a  century  of  the  town's  existence,  there  had  settled  in  Cam- 
bridge many  of  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  Eiigland,  attached  to  its  doctrineand 
worship.  They  longed  to  have  a  church  of  that  communion  established  here, 
and  accordingly  made  application  to  the  venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  for  assistance  in  this  undertaking.  This  so- 
ciety in  England  existed  for  the  purpose  of  helping  the  establishment  of 
the  Church  of  England  in  the  English  Colonies  of  North  America.  The  so- 
ciety looked  favorably  upon  the  appeal  of  the  churchmen  of  Cambridge,  and 
granted  an  appropriation  for  the  support  of  a  missionary.  The  first  recipient 
of  this  grant  was  Rev.  East  Apthorp,  born  in  New  England,  but  educated  at 
Jesus  College,  Cambridge,  England. 

The  original  subscription  for  building  the  church  is  dated  at  Boston,  April 
25,  1759.  The  petition  to  the  society  was  signed  by  Henry  Vassall,  Joseph  Lee, 
John  Vassall,  Ralph  Inman,  Thomas  Oliver,  David  Phips,  Robert  Temple, 
James  Apthorp.  The  first  six  gentlemen,  with  Rev.  East  Apthorp,  were 
chosen  as  the  building  committee.  Ralph  Inman  was  appointed  treasurer, 
and  it  was  voted  by  the  committee  and  subscribers   present: 

"1.  That  the  extreme  dimensions  of  the  church,  including  the  thickness 
of  the  walls,  but  exclusive  of  the  chancel  and  tower  be  sixty  feet  in  length 
and   forty-five   feet  in  breadth. 

2.  That  the  architect  be  at  liberty  to  make  any  alteration  in  the  above 
dimensions  of  60  x  45  feet,  provided  he  does  not  enlarge  the  area  of  the 
church. 

3.  That  the  building  be  of  wood  and  covered  on  the  outside  with  rough 
cast;  that  there  be  only  one  tier  of  windows  and  no  galleries  except  an  organ 
loft. 

4.  That  the  expense  of  executing  the  whole  building  is  not  to  exceed  500 
pounds   sterling. 

5.  That  a  letter  be  wrote  to  Mr.  Harrison,  of  Newport,  requesting  a  plan 
and  elevation  of  the  outside  and  inside,  and  of  the  pulpit  and  vestry  of  the 
church,  and  if  Mr.  Harrison  approves  of  it,  there  be  no  steeple,  only  a 
tower  with  a  belfry;  and  that  he  be  informed  of  the  dimensions  of  a  picture 
designed  for  the  chancel. 

6.  That  Mr.  Phips  and  Mr.  Inman  wait  on  Mr.  Boardman,  of  Cambridge, 
to  know  whether  he  will  give  a  piece  of  land,  and  what  quantity,  for  the 
church  to  be  built  upon." 

Mr.  Boardman's  land  took  in  both  sides  of  the  Appian  way,  fronting  on  the 
common,  and  some  arrangements  were  made  for  building  the  church  there; 
but  an  adjoining  piece  of  land  one  hundred  feet  square  was  finally  bought  of 

9 


130  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

Mr.  James  Reed  for  sixteen  pounds.  It  formed  part  of  the  grounds  belonging 
to  his  house,  which  stands  on  what  is  now  Brattle  street  and  Farwell  place. 
This,  with  the  same  quantity  bought  of  the  Proprietors  of  the  common  and 
undivided  lands  of  the  town  of  Cambridge  and  taken  in  from  the  common, 
formed  the  church  lot.  The  price  paid  to  the  Proprietors  was  thirteen 
pounds,  the  church  also  paying  for  the  removal  of  the  pound  belonging  to 
the  town.  The  line  of  the  common,  which  was  curved,  was  thus  straightened, 
the  burying  ground  being  also  extended  to  the  church  line.  The  dimensions 
of  the  building  proposed  by  the  committee  were  adopted  by  the  architect 
without  change,  but  the  whole  cost  of  the  church,  not  including  the  land, 
was  about  1,300  pounds.  The  rough  cast  seems  never  to  have  been  added. 
The  architect  was  Mr.  Peter  Harrison,  then  residing  at  Newport,  and  who 
built  the  Redwood  Library  there,   and  King's    Chapel,    in    Boston. 

Christ  Church  seems  always  to  have  been  regarded  as  an  edifice  of  superior 
elegance.  The  Massachusetts  Magazine  for  July,  1792  (from  which  the  cut 
is  taken),  speaks  of  it  as  "commodious  and  elegant."  Rev.  Dr.  Holmes,  in 
his  history  of  Cambridge,  says:  "It  is  considered  by  connoisseurs  in  archi- 
tecture as  one  of  the  best  constructed  churches  in  New  England."  Though 
our  ideas  in  regard  to  church  architecture  have  changed  since  those  early 
days,  one  must  always  be  struck  with  the  good  proiwrtions  of  the  building 
and  its  air  of  simple  dignity. 

The  opening  of  the  church  took  place  on  Thursday,  October  15,  1761.  The 
persistent  tradition  that  the  frame  timbers  were  brought  from  England 
seems  to  have  no  foundation  in  fact.  The  great  pillars  of  the  interior  were 
brought  by  water  down  the  river.  They  were  bored  to  prevent  warping,  and 
then  turned,  probably  at  the  turner's  shop  which  stood  at  the  time  at  the 
corner  of  Waterhouse  street  and  Concord  avenue.  The  stones  of  the  foundation 
were  probably  brought  as  ballast  in  trading  vessels,  as  there  are  records  of 
money  paid  for  the  removal  of  stones  from  a  vessel  from  Quebec.  The  cor- 
ner-stone bore  a  Latin  inscription,  and  Sir  Francis  Bernard,  then  governor  of 
the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  was  present  at  the  laying  of  it,  and  un- 
doubtedly a  stately  ceremony  was  made  of  the  event. 

A  fine  organ  was  secured  for  the  church,  built  by  an  eminent  London 
builder,  and  also  a  bell,  the  gift  of  Captain  Edward  Cahill,  of  London,  was 
received.  Other  gifts  were  forthcoming.  Mrs.  Grizzell  Apthorp,  mother  of 
the  rector,  gave  a  large  christening  basin  of  solid  silver,  finely  chased  and 
moulded.  Mrs.  Mary  Faneuil  gave  a  Bible,  and  Thomas  Lechmere  two  large 
prayer   books,    which    are   still    in    good  condition. 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  reconstruct  the  appearance  of  church  and  con- 
gregation in  those  early  years  before  the  Revolution — the  old-fashioned  square 
pews  with  their  decorous  occupants  in  laced  coats,  white  silk  stockings  and 
small  clothes,  the  eager  young  rector  in  the  great  wine-glass  shaped  pulpit  at 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  131 

the  head  of  the  main  aisle  overshadowed  by  a  carved  sounding  board;  outside 
the  bare  expanse  of  the  common,  with  its  strag'gling'  roads  leading  to  Men- 
otomiy  and  "Watertown,  the  burying  ground  close  at  hand,  with  the  little 
group  of  college  buildings  beyond.  Most  of  the  proprietors  of  the  church 
lived  on  Brattle  street,  then  known  as  "Church  Row,"  from  the  creed  of  its 
dwellers,    and    later    as    "Tory    Row,"  from  their  hated   loyalty. 

FIRST  RECTOR  OF  CHRIST  CHURCH. 

The  rector  built  for  himself  a  house  which  perhaps  more  than  anything 
else  brought  the  suspicion  and  antagonism  of  the  Puritan  population  upon  the 
little  congregation.  It  was  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  college  buildings,  and 
stands  today  a  noble  specimen  of  colonial  architecture,  even  though  the 
vicissitudes  of  its  life  have  done  much  to  deface  it.  It  was  dubbed,  half  in 
fear  and  half  in  ridicule,  the  "Bishop's  Palace,"  which  name  clung  to  it  for 
many  years.  One  cannot  be  surprised  at  the  political  prejudice  roused 
against  the  church  and  rector.  The  Church  of  England  was  gaining  a  posi- 
tion of  influence.  Popular  feeling  ran  so  high  against  this  incursion  of  the 
very  religion  that  New  England  Puritans  had  left  their  homes  to  avoid,  and 
such  dread  was  felt  of  the  possibility  of  an  Established  Church  being  forced 
upon  the  colonists,  that  Rev.  jNIr.  Apthorp  felt  called  upon  to  defend  his  posi- 
tion, that  of  his  congregation  and  of  the  society  which  had  granted  them  help, 
by  writing  a  pamphlet  on  "Considerations  on  the  Institutions  and  Conduct  of 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel."  This  was  eagerly  seized  up- 
on by  Rev.  Dr.  Mayhew,  then  minister  of  the  West  Church,  in  Boston. 
There  followed  a  pamphlet  war,  in  which  the  young  rector  was  no  match  for 
his  skilled  opponent.  His  position  became  a  trying  one,  and  the  end  of  it  was 
his  retirement  to  England  ostensibly  for  other  reasons,  but  probably  because 
his  life  here  became  intolerable  to  a  man  of  sensitive  refinement  and  mildness. 
It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  when  a  bishopric  really  was  offered  to  Rev.  Mr. 
Apthorp  in  later  years,   the  honor  was  declined. 

The  silver  flagon,  chalice,  and  paten,  with  the  arms  of  William  and  Mary, 
presented  through  the  royal  governor  to  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  in  1G96,  came 
into  the  possession  of  Christ  Church  in  1772.  The  new  governor.  Governor 
Hutchinson,  sent  over  by  George  III,  came,  as  was  not  unusual,  with  a 
present  from  the  king  of  communion  plate  and  damask  pulpit  hangings. 
These  he  presented  to  King's  Chapel,  and  received  in  return,  as  not  being 
so  fine,  the  silver  given  by  William  and  Mary,  two  flagons,  two  chalices  and 
two  patens.  These  he  gave  in  equal  proportions  to  the  church  at  Newburyport 
and  to  Cambridge.  During  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  Christ  Church  silver 
was  in  the  care  of  Dr.  Parker,  of  Trinity  Church,  and  in  1787  was  claimed 
by  Dr.  Bulfinch,  the  warden,  as  the  property  of  King's  Chapel.  Dr.  Parker 
proved     a     trusty     and     valiant     guardian;   he   stoutly  maintained   that   the 


132  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

silver  was  the  unalienable  property  of  the  Cambridge  church,  and  it  was  fi- 
nally restored,  and  is  at  the  present  day  in  its  keeping. 

GENERAL.  WASHINGTON  IN  CHRIST  CHURCH. 

Mr.  Apthorp  left  for  England  in  1764,  and  in  the  summer  of  1766  the  parish 
obtained  the  consent  of  Rev.  Winwood  Sarjeant  to  serve  as  their  minister, 
and  for  seven  years  the  church  enjoyed  peace  and  quiet.  Then  came  the 
troubled  days  of  the  Revolution.  There  was  perhaps  no  church  in  the  country 
more  completely  broken  up.  Of  all  the  subscribers  and  pew-owners  not  a 
name  appears  on  the  records  after  the  Revolution  but  those  of  John  Pigeon, 
Esq.,  and  Judge  Joseph  Lee.  The  former  espoused  the  patriotic  side;*  the  latter 
was  a  Loyalist,  but,  being  a  quiet  man  and  moderate  in  his  opinions,  remained 
unmolested.  During  a  part  of  his  ministry,  Mr.  Sarjeant  occupied  the 
Waterhouse  house  facing  the  common,  which  is  still  standing  near  Concord 
avenue,  though  somewhat  enlarged.  The  house  in  which,  he  lived  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Revolutionary  troubles,  and  which  was  ransacked  by  a  mob  in 
September,  1774,  stood  on  the  Observatory  grounds,  nearly  opposite  the  end  of 
Linnaean  street.  At  the  time  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  Captain  Chester's 
company  from  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  seems  to  have  been  quartered  in  the 
church  building.  No  doubt,  th.e  window  weights  and  organ  pipes  were  found 
very  convenient  to  be  moulded  into  bullets,  but  there  was  much  wanton  de- 
struction besides.  On  Monday,  December  11,  Mrs.  "Washington  arrived  in 
Cambridge.  On  the  last  Sunday  of  that  year  the  church  was  used  for  divine 
service  at  her  request.  In  a  letter  of  Colonel  William  Palfrey  to  his  wife,  giv- 
en in  Sparks'  American  Biography,  he  says:  "I  yesterday,  at  the  request  of 
Mrs.  Washington,  performed  divine  service  at  the  Church  in  Cambridge. 
There  were  present  the  general  and  lady,  Mrs.  Gates,  Mrs.  Custis  and  a  num- 
ber of  others,  and  they  were  pleased  to  compliment  me  on  my  performance. 
I  made  a  form  of  prayer  instead  of  the  prayer  for  the  king,  which  was  much 
approved.  I  gave  it  to  Mrs.  Washington  at  her  desire,  and  did  not  keep  a 
copy,  but  will  get  one  and  send  it  to  you."  A  tablet  to  Colonel  Palfrey  has 
been  placed  in  the  church,  on  the  eastern  wall.  It  is  probable  that  service 
was  held  in  the  church  on  other  occasions  while  the  headquarters  of  the  army 
were  at  Cambridge.  There  has  always  been  a  tradition  that  General  Wash- 
ington was  In  the  habit  of  worshipping  there,  and  when  the  church  was  re- 
paired in  1825,  a  pew  which  he  occupied  was  pointed  out  by  a  person  who 
had  been  present.  No  written  evidence,  however,  other  than  that  already 
given,  has  been  found.  On  the  day  of  the  service  above  mentioned.  Gener- 
al Washington  wrote  to  the  president  of  the  Continental  Congress  respecting 


•John   Pigeon   was   commissary-general   in  the   Continental   army   during   the 
siege  of  Boston. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  133 

the  better  provision  for  chaplains  in  the  army.  On  Sunday,  December  3,  1775, 
he  attended  public  worship  in  the  parish  church  (Dr.  Appleton's),  when  Rev. 
Abiel  Leonard  preached  to  the  troops,  and  on  Sunday,  March  17,  1776,  a  fejv 
hours  after  the  enemy  retreated  from  Boston,  at  the  same  church,  "Rev.  Mr. 
Leonard  preached  a  sermon  in  the  audience  of  his  excellency,  the  general,  and 
others  of  distinction,  well  adapted  to  the  interesting  event  of  the  day." 

With  the  departure  of  the  continental  army,  quiet  came  to  Cambridge  for 
more  than  a  year  and  a  half,  but  in  November,  1777,  after  the  surrender  of 
General  Burgoyne,  British  and  Hessian  troops  were  quartered  in  Cambridge 
as  convention  prisoners.  During  this  occupation,  the  shooting  of  an  Eng^- 
lish  officer,  under  a  misapprehension  by  an  American  sentry,  brought  a  fresh 
access  of  misfortune  to  the  church.  The  affair  caused  great  excitement,  and 
the  funeral  on  June  19,  1778,  was  attended  by  all  the  British  and  German  offi- 
cers, and  the  body  of  the  young  lieutenant  was  interred  in  the  Vassall 
tomb  beneath  the  church.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  most  severe  dam- 
age was  done  to  the  building  of  any  it  received  during  the  war.  An  eye-wit- 
ness says:  "The  Americans  seized  the  opportunity  of  the  church  being  open, 
which  had  been  shut  since  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  to  plunder,  ran- 
sack and  deface  everything  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  destroying  the 
pulpit,  reading  desk  and  communion  table,  and,  ascending  the  organ  loft, 
destroyed  the  bellows  and  broke  all  the  pii)es  of  a  very  handsome  instru- 
ment." 

Dr.  Hoppin,  in  his  historical  sketch  of  the  church,  says:  "Christ  Church 
was  left  for  many  years  in  a  melancholy  and  desecrated  condition,  the  doors 
shattered  and  all  the  windows  broken  out,  exposed  to  rain  and  storms  and 
every  sort  of  depredation,  its  beauty  gone,  its  sanctuary  defiled,  the  wind 
howling  through  its  deserted  aisles,  and  about  its  stained  and  decaying  walls; 
the  whole  building  being  a  disgrace  instead  of  an  ornament  to  the  town." 
No  effort  appears  to  have  been  made  for  the  renewal  of  divine  worship  till 
the  beginning  of  1790,  when  a  subscription  was  raised  and  the  church  again 
opened  on  July  14,  1790.  For  the  next  thirty  years,  there  was  no  settled 
clergyman,  but  lay  readers,  many  of  them  tutors  or  students  in  the  universi- 
ty, with  occasional  services  fromi  visiting  clergymien.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  among  these  lay  readers  was  Jonathan  Mayhew  "Wainwright,  a  grandson 
of  the  man  who  had  attacked  Christ  Church    in    its    early   history. 

In  1800,  a  service  was  held  in  compliance  with  a  vote  of  congress  "recom- 
mending the  twenty-second  day  of  February  to  be  observed  by  citizens  of  the 
United  States  to  commemorate  the  death  of  General  George  Washington," 
and  Mr.  William  Jenks  was  instructed  to  deliver  a  discourse  ....  "adapted 
to  the  solemn  and  mournful  occasion."  In  1804,  another  effort  was  made  to 
repair  the  church,  but  the  poverty  of  the  parish  was  so  great  that  little  was 
attempted  in  the  way  of  service,  save  on   Christmas   Day.       Then   the  little 


134  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

congregation  would  struggle  to  assemble  a  choir,  decorate  the  church  and  se- 
cure a  minister  for  the  day.  Outside  of  Christ  Church,  Ciiristmas  was  then 
unknown   in   Cambridge. 

In  1824,  so  wretched  was  the  plight  of  the  church  that  other  churchmen 
in  Massachusetts  came  to  the  rescue,  and  even  Harvard  College  contribut- 
ed $300  to  its  restoration.  In  its  darkest  days  Harvard  students  had  composed 
a  large  part  of  the  congregation.  By  1857,  its  fortunes  had  so  greatly  im- 
proved that  an  enlargement  was  found  necessary,  and  23  feet  were  added 
to  the  length  of  the  structure,  exactly  on  the  original  lines,  planned  by  the 
architect  of  the  building.  In  1860,  a  chime  of  thirteen  bells  was  procured  by 
subscription  at  a  cost  of  five  thousand  dollars. 

To  sum  up,  in  Dr.  Hoppin's  words  at  the  conclusion  of  his  historical  sketch 
in  1857  (to  which  and  Mr.  S.  F.  Batchelder's  account  of  Christ  Church,  both 
of  which  are  unfortunately  out  of  print,  the  present  writer  is  greatly  indebt- 
ed) :  "Such  is  an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  history  of  Christ  Church,  Cambridge. 
Begun  under  highly  favorable  circumstances,  with  every  promise  of  the  most 
flourishing  success,  yet  speedily  checked  in  its  prosperity;  built  by  a  band  of 
gentlemen,  whose  very  names  and  families  have  almost  entirely  disappeared 
from  amongst  us,  of  whom,  indeed,  little  remains  in  Cambridge  but  their  es- 
tates, their  church,  and  their  fame  for  loyalty  and  honor;  twice  in  a  deserted 
and  ruinous  condition,  yet  through  the  Providence  of  God  happily  restored,  and 
the  offering  of  prayer  and  praise  renewed  at  its  altar;  carefully  watched 
over  and  preserved  by  a  little  company  of  Christians  to  whom  the  liturgy  and 
order  of  the  church  were  dear;  gradually  increasing  in  the  numbers  of  its 
worshippers  and  now  considerably  strengthened  and  enlarged;  long  may  it 
stand  as  a  monument  of  the  past,  and  serve  for  the  furtherance  of  pure 
religion  and  the  immortal  interests  of  truth  and  peace,  to  the  glory  of  the 
Redeemer,   whose  Name   it  bears!"  E.  M.  H. 

THE  BURYING  GROUND. 

"Go  where   the   ancient  pathway  guides, 

See    where    our    sires  laid  down 
Their      smiling      babes,  theh*  cherished  brides. 

The  patriarchs  of  the   town; 
Hast    thou    a    tear    for  buried  love? 

A    sigh    for    transient  power? 

All   that  a  century  left  above, 

Go,    read    it    in    an  hour!" 

— O.  W.  HOLMES. 

Right  in  the  heart  of  Old  Cambridge,  opposite  the  common,  is  the  small,  but 
historically  interesting  God's  Acre.  Here,  mingling  with  the  dust,  lie  the 
bones  of  the  earliest  settlers,  the  men  who  made  Cambridge— of  a  governor  of 
the  colony,  judges,  presidents  of  Harvard,  professors,  and  men  of  learning  and 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  135 

of  wealth.  Here  too  were  laid  to  rest  their  children,  those  who  could  not  bear 
the  rude  blasts  of  the  New  England  winter,  or  who  were  swept  off  by  the  dis- 
tempers, for  which  no  cure  had  been  found.  Here,  too,  rest  those  hopeful 
youths,  who  were  cut  off  by  death  while  studying  at  Harvard,  such  as  Thomas 
Spear,  "Singular!  Temperantia  Sobrietate  et  Humilitate  Juvenis:  Moribus 
Castus  Scelerisque  purus:  Interger  innocuusque  vixit,"  who  died  aged  16,  Sep- 
tember 27,  1723;  or  Mr.  NVinslow  Warren,  of  Plymouth,  "A  Young  Gentleman 
of  great  Hopes,  who  died  March  ye  9th,  A.  D.  1747,  Aetatis  15"; 
or  Noah  Merrick,  drowned  in  the  river  in  his  17th  year,  in 
1762,  "optimae  spei  Juvenis,"  says  the  inscription  on  his 
etone,  and  the  same  words  of  commendation  are  used  for  Charles  Cutter, 
son  of  Dr.  Ammi  Ruhamah  Cutter,  of  New  Hampshire,  dead  in  his  16th 
year,  "Lacu  Cantabrigiensi  casu  submersi,"  in  1779.  When  educated  men 
were  so  badly  needed,  it  must  have  been  doubly  hard  to  spare  those  who 
had  finished  their  studies,  and  were  beginning  their  life  work,  like  Jonathan 
Remington,  3rd,  who  died  in  1738,  two  year®  after  his  graduation,  and 
John  Holyoke,  son  of  the  president,  who  pased  away  two  years  after  he  took 
his  degree,   in  1753. 

The  first  mention  of  this  graveyard  bears  date  of  January  4,  1635,  when 
it  was  ordered  at  town  meeting  "that  the  Burying  Place  be  paled  In."  Just 
one  hundred  years  later,  the  town  and  college  built  a  substantial  stone 
T\-all  on  the  side  by  the  road  at  a  cost  of  150  pounds,  the  college  paying 
twenty-five  pounds,  as  it  stands  in  the  records,  "Because  the  College  has  used 
and  expects  to  make  use  of  the  Burying  Place,  as  Providence  gives  occas- 
sion  for  it."  And  Providence  did  "give  occasion"  many  times  for  the 
honored  dead  of  the  university  to  find  here  a  rest  from  their  labors.  The  first 
president,  Henry  Dunster,  must  have  loved  the  quiet  spot,  for  his  dying  re- 
quest, in  1659,  was  that  he  might  be  brought  from.  Scituate  to  lie  here. 
Charles  Chauncey,  the  second  president,  was  buried  here,  in  1671.  Here  the 
fourth  president,  Urian  Oakes,  was  laid  to  rest  ten  years  later,  and,  in 
1724,  John  Leverett,  eighth  president,  was  buried  under  the  large  tomb,  that 
bears  his  coat  of  arms.  Benjamin  Wadsworth,  who  died  in  1737,  Edward 
Holyoke,  1769,  Joseph  Willard,  1804,  and  Samuel  Webber,  1810,  complete  the 
roll  of  the  presidents  of  Harvard  who  lie  here.  The  long  Latin  inscriptions 
of  Presidents  Dunster,  Willard  and  Webber  were  written  by  C.  Folsom,  Esq., 
at  the  request  of  the  corporation,  in  1846.  Here  Henry  Flynt,  Esq.,  who  was 
tutor  for  fifty-five  years  and  fellow  for  sixty-one,  rested  from  his  labors, 
in  1760.  Professor  Edward  Wigglesworth,  first  Hollis  professor,  was  laid 
here  in  1765.  John  Wadsworth,  a  descendant  of  John  and  Priscilla  Alden, 
tutor  and  fellow,  who  died  of  small-pox  in  1777,  Thomas  Marsh,  tutor  and 
librarian,  1780,  and  Samuel  Shapleigh,  librarian,  who  died  in  1800,  all  sleep 
here.    Nor  should  we  forget  John  Taylor,    who    died    on    September    6,    1683, 


136  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

aged  -73  years,  "A  Lover  of  Learning,  a  faithful  Servant  of  Harvard  Col- 
ledg.  About  40  years."  He  it  was  who  was  sent  to  England  to  escort  across 
the  ocean  the  Rev.  Urian  Oakes.    Paige  says  he  was  the  butler  of  the  college. 

The  entrance  for  foot  passengers  is  close  to  the  First  Parish  Church  and 
not  far  from  it  is  a  large  slab  tomb  to  John  Stedman,  merchant  of  Cam- 
bridge for  nearly  fifty  years.  He  sailed  from  England  with  the  Rev.  Josse 
and  Mrs.  Glover  and  their  family  of  five  cliildren.  Rev.  Mr.  Glover  dying 
on  the  voyage,  left,  by  will,  "fifty  pounds  to  my  antient  faythful  servant, 
John  Stedman,"  who  was  then  thirty-six  years  old.  He  brought  the  print- 
ing press  and  stock  of  merchandise,  and  his  master's  family  all  safely  to 
Cambridge,  where  he  served  the  widow  until  she  married  President  Dunster; 
then  he  set  up  a  shop  on  the  east  of  Brattle  square,  near  Mount  Auburn 
street.  In  1658,  he  was  granted  the  monopoly  of  trading  in  furs  in  Cam- 
bridge. His  business  as  merchant  did  not  occupy  all  of  his  time.  He  was 
selectman  sixty  years,  and  county  treasurer  for  twenty-six.  For  six  years, 
he  was  ensign  in  the  Cambridge  militia,  and  served  as  cornet  under  Cap- 
tain Davis  in  the  expedition  against  Ninigret,  in  1654.  His  wife,  Alice,  died 
in  1690,  and  three  years  later,  he,  too,  fell  asleep,  aged  ninety-two.  He  left 
no  son,  but  his  three  daughters  all  married  distinguished  men,  one  hav- 
ing had  four  husbands  before  her  father's  death,  and  having  survived 
them  all. 

Most  of  the  early  settlers  of  Cambridge  were  buried  here.  Among  those 
whose  resting  places  are  not  marked  are:  Rev.  Thomasi  Shepard  and  his 
wife,  Joanna  Hooker,  Rev.  Jonathan  Mitchell  and  his  ■svife,  Margaret 
Shepard;  Rev.  Nathaniel  Gookin,  who  tradition  says  was  buried 
under  a  brick  monument  crowned  by  a  stone  slab,  but  the  inscription 
was  gone  in  1800;  probably  it  was  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  yard  where 
his  wife's  stone  still  stands;  also,  Roger  Harlakenden,  the  friend  and  pro- 
tector of  Shepard,  Elijah  Corlett,  the  famous  schoolmaster,  Stephen  Daye 
and  Samuel  Green,  the  earliest  printers— and  only  this  spring  has  a  stone  with 
inscription  been  erected  to  Gregory  Stone,  deacon  of  the  church  and  rep- 
resentative of  Cambridge  in  1638. 

Among  the  earliest  stones  are  those  of  Anne  Errington,  or  Harrington  (Ann 
Erinton  on  the  stone),  the  oldest  now  standing,  who  died  on  Christmas  Day, 
1653,  and  of  Major  Daniel  Gookin,  who  departed  this  life  in  1687. 

The  freestone  slab  resting  on  five  fluted  pillars,  that  stands  in  the  fore- 
ground of  our  view  of  the  old  burying  ground  is  the  Vassall  tomb,  and  under 
it  lie  Colonel  John  Vassal,  who  died  in  1747,  his  first  wife,  and  others  of  the 
family.  Many  more  of  the  name  are  buried  in  the  tomb  under  Christ  Church. 
There  is  no  inscription  on  this  slab,  simply  the  vase  and 
the  sun  (vas  and  sol),  the  heraldic  bearings  of  the 
family.    A  little  beyond  it  is  a  gray  stone    altar    tomb,    surrounded    by    an 


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■*:^ 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  137 

iron  railing,  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  "Thomas  Lee,  a  Native  of  Great 
Britain,  but  for  many  years  a  citizen  of  America."  The  long  insciiption 
praises  him  greatly  for  his  "habits  of  mercantile  attention  and  industry. 
After  having  acquired,  with  the  strictest  integrity  and  honor,  an  ample 
fortune,  he  retired  from)  the  busy  scenes  of  life,  and  employed  his  time,  and 
applied  his  income  to  useful  and  rational  purposes."  He  died  on  May  26, 
1797,  in  the  seventieth  year  of  bis  age.  Nothing  is  said  about  his  wife,  but 
tradition  has  pointed  out  this  tomb  as  that  of  Lady  Lee,  about  whom  the 
poet   Henry  "W.   Longfellow  wrote   in  his  "Churchyard  in  Cambridge": 

"At  her  feet  and  at  her  head 
Lies  a  slave  to  attend  the  dead, 
But  their  dust  is  as  white  as  hers." 

Jonathan  Belcher,  born  in  January,  1681,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in 
1699,  was  governor  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  from  1730  to  1741, 
and  governor  of  New  Jersey  from  1747  till  his  death,  which  took  place  at 
Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey,  August  1,  1757.  Mr.  William  Thaddeus  Harris, 
in  his  "Epitaphs  from  the  Old  Burying  Ground  in  Cambridge,"  writes:  "It 
appears  that  Governor  Belcher  and  his  cousin.  Judge  Remington,  were  ardent 
friends,  so  much  so  as  to  desire  to  be  buried  in  one  grave.  Judge  Reming- 
ton dying  first,  his  body  was  committed  to  the  earth.  The  governor's  remains, 
having  been  brought  here  from  New  Jersey,  were  deposited  in  a  tomb,  con- 
structed a  short  time  before,  agreeably  to  his  orders,  contiguous  to  that  of 
Judge  Trowbridge;  the  body  of  Judge  Remington  was  disinterred,  and  placed 
by  his  side."  It  may  be  well  to  observe  that  these  tombs,  viz.,  that  of  Gov- 
ernor Belcher,  and  that  of  Judge  Trowbridge  (now  known  as  the  Dana  tomb), 
are  near  the  present  gateway  of  the  burying-ground.  In  that  of  Judge 
Trowbridge  rest  the  remains  of  Washington  Allston;  of  Chief  Justice  Francis 
Dana;    of  the  i)oet   Richard   H.   Dana  and  others  of  the  family. 

Both  near  the  road  and  along  the  further  side  are  mound  tombs,  with 
the  names  of  many  old  Cambridge  families,  and  underneath  the  grround 
are  others,  of  which  there  is  now  no  trace.  There  are,  in  all,  nearly  twenty 
of  the  altar-shaped  tombs — in  some  the  slabs  are  of  slate,  others  of  free- 
stone. Where  there  is  nO'  name  there  was  once  a  leaden  tablet  that  was  taken 
to  cast  bullets  for  the  soldiers  at  Bunker  Hill.  Some  have  foundations 
of  brick,  others  of  stone,  but  most  of  the  resting  places  are  indicated  by 
the  usual  upright  slate  slab,  rounded  at  the  top,  some  of  surprising  thick- 
ness. Many  of  them  are  ornamented  with  a  winged  scull,  on  one  side  of 
which  is  cut  "Memento  Mori,"  and  on  the  other,  "Fugit  hora."  Here  and 
there  the  visitor  is  reminded  that 

"Death  is  a  debt  to  nature  due 
As  I  have   paid  it,  so  must  you," 


138 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 


but  this  occurs  far  less  frequently  than  in  most  of  the  old  grraveyards, 
and  we  have,  as  is  meet  near  the  great  institution  of  learning,  many  long 
Latin  inscriptions. 

OLD  MILE  STONE.    (See  Title  Page.) 

The  old  mile-stone  formerly  stood  on  the  east  side  of  the  first  court  house, 
which  was  in  the  middle  of  the  present  Harvard  square. 

On  the  stone  is  cut  "8  miles  to  Boston,  A,  I.,  1737."  Of  course,  this  was 
by  the  old  road  throug'h  Brookline  and  Roxbury.  The  stone  was  cut  and 
placed  by  Abraham  Ireland,  as  the  initials  indicate.  In  some  digging  by 
the  town  in  Harvard  square,  or  perhaps  in  the  removal  of  the  old  market 
house,  about  1830  (see  print  of  meeting  house),  the  stone,  no  longer  needed, 
became  buried  with  the  rubbish,  and,  in  digging  again  to  build  the  hay 
scales,  it  came  to  sight,  was  carried  to  the  city  stables,  with  other  old  stones, 
to  be  broken  up  for  the  streets. 

William  A.  Saunders  became  interested  to  find  it,  called  on  the  superintend- 
ent of  streets,  was  successful,  and,  after  a  time,  he  promised  to  save  it,  and 
place  it  as  near  the  old  spot  as  was  possible.  The  front  of  the  then  law 
school  (Dane  Hall)  was  fixed  upon,  and  there  it  was  placed,  but  after- 
wards removed  to  the  corner  of  the  burying  ground.  Mr.  Ireland  died  Jan- 
uary 24,  1753,  aged  eighty-one.    On  his  gravestone  is  cut 

"God  Brought  him  from  a  Distant  Land 

And  Did  preserve  by  has  Mighty  hand 

God   Blest  him  with  old  Age 

And    a    great    Posterity; 

Pray  God  to  give  them  Grace 

To  fly  to  Christ, 

To   prepare   them   for  Great  Eternity. 

By  a   Relation." 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  Revolutionary  soldiers  whose  graves 
are  known  and  are  decorated  and  marked  by  Washington  Elm  Chapter, 
D.  R.: 

LIEUTENANT    JOHN    WATSON,    Died  1823,  Aged  83 

2nd  LIEUT.  JOSHUA  WALTON, 

SERGT.  JOSEPH  BATES. 

TORREY   HANCOCK, 

NATHANIEL  PRENTISS, 

ABEL  MOORE, 

JOHN  STEARNS, 

DAVID  FROST, 

STEPHEN  STODDARD, 

THOMAS   GODDARD, 

WILLIAM  MANNING, 

SAMUEL  PRENTISS, 

EDWARD  FILLERROWN, 

JOSEPH  TAYLOR, 

JOHN  HICKS, 


1783, 

•   39 

1803, 

1778, 

•   33 

1817, 

1794, 

♦   39 

1775, 

'   23 

1787, 

'   30 

1820, 

'   79 

1830, 

1804, 

•   49 

1795, 

'   37 

1798, 

1775, 

"   18 

1775, 

"   50 

HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  139 

Two  slaves  who  fought  at  Lexington  lie  here  in  the  tombs  of 
their  owners— Neptune  Frost  and  Cato  Stedman.  It  is  much  to  be  wished 
that  if  other  Revolutionary  soldiers  lie  here,  their  descendants  will  let 
it  be  known.  Near  Christ  Church  is  a  low  monument  marking  the  spot 
W'here,  a  few  years  ago,  were  buried  the  bones  of  those  who  were  wounded 
at  Bunker  Hill  and  died  at  Elmwood,  then  a  hospital.  Their  names  are 
forgotten,   but  their  bravery  is  remembered. 

In  1870,  the  city  erected  a  simple  shaft  to  mark  the  burial  place  of  six 
Minute   Men   killed   April   19,   1775.     The  inscription  is: 

"Erected    by    the  City,    A.    D.,    1870, 

to     the     memory     of 

John    Hicks— William    Marcy — Moses     Richardson 

Buried  here 

Jason      Russell — Jabez     Wyman — Jason     Winship 

Buried    in       Menotomy 

Men  of  Cambridge 

Who    fell    in    defense    of  the  liberty  of  the  people 

April    19,    1775 

Oh    what    a    glorious    morning     is     this." 

L.  F.  P. 


MOORE-HILL-DEACON  MOORE- JENNISON  HOUSE;   SHEPARD 
MEMORIAL  CHURCH  (B  and  C61). 

In  1642,  the  land  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Garden  and  Mason  streets,  where 
now  stands  the  Shepard  Memorial  Church,  was  the  estate  of  Golden  Moore,  who 
married  his  next-door  neighbor.  Widow  Joanna  Champney,  before  1643.  Later, 
he  removed  to  Billerica,  where  he  died,  aged  eighty-nine  years,  1698.  His 
daughter,  Hannah,  married  John  Hastings  and  resided  on  Ash  street. 

When  Abraham  Hill  bought  the  Blowers  estate,  this  land  at  the  corner  of 
Garden  and  Mason  streets  was  part  of  the  estate  purchased.  Hill  probably 
built  the  house  long  known  as  the  Jennison  house  and  shown  in  our  illustration. 
His  son,  Aaron  Hill,  executor,  leased  the  house  to  Josiah  Moore,  a  carpenter, 
who  was  elected  a  deacon  of  the  First  Church  in  1805,  and  married  (1)  in  1768, 
Mary,  daughter  of  Seth  Hastings,  (2)  in  1782,  Nancy,  daughter  of  Owen  War- 
land.  After  living  here  a  year.  Deacon  Moore  bought  the  house  and  an  acre 
and  a  half  of  land,  November  24,  1784.  He  was  assessor,  and  overseer  of  the 
poor  for  many  years,  selectman  in  1814,  and  sergeant  in  Captain  Thatcher's  com- 
pany of  minute  men.     He  died  suddenly  May  1,  1814,   aged  sixty-seven  years. 

The  next  noted  occupant  of  the  house  was  Dr.  Timothy  Lindall  Jennison,  a 
member  of  the  Watertown  family,  whose  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Jonathan 
Belcher,  Jr.,  chief  justice  and  lieutenant-governor  of  Nova  Scotia  and  grand- 


140  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

daughter  of  Jonathan  Belcher,  governor  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire  and 
New  Jersey.  Mrs.  Jennison  died  in  Cambridge  in  1848,  aged  eighty-eight.  Dr. 
Jennison  was  selectman  in  1795,  1806,  and  1817  and  was  very  prominent  in  settling 
the  affairs  of  the  Proprietors  of  Cambridge,  descendants  of  the  early  settlers. 
He  is  described  as  a  physician  of  the  old  school  in  wig  and  small  clothes,  who, 
with  his  contemporaries.  Dr.  Gamage  and  Dr.  Waterhouse,  acted  as  medical 
advisers  to  the  good  folk  of  Cambridge.  His  daughter.  Miss  Jennison,  for  many 
years  kept  in  this  house  a  dame  school,  attended  by  the  daughters  and  small 
sons  of  tlie  best  families.  Colonel  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson  was  one  of 
her  pupils  and  many  whom  she  taught  to  read  still  remember  her.  The  house 
was  owned  for  some  years  by  Samuel  Batchelder,  whose  coachman  lived  in  it. 
Mr.  Batchelder  sold  it  in  1869,  and  the  house  was  removed  and  the  Shepard 
Memorial  Church  immediately  erected  in  Its  place. 

One  cannot  pass  near  the  Common  without  seeing  that  ancient  weather  cock, 
the  vane  now  on  the  steeple  of  this  church,  but  which  from  1721  to  1869  was  on 
the  spire  of  the  "New  Brick"  Meeting  house,  Hanover  street.  It  is  said  that 
Rev.  Cotton  Mather  preached  the  first  sermon  under  it  in  1721.  It  was  made 
by  Deacon  Shem  Drowne,  who  also  made  the  grasshopper  on  Faneuil  Hall  and 
the  Indian  formerly  on  the  Province  house,  now  at  the  rooms  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society. 

The  vane  was  first  taken  down  for  repairs  in  1785.  The  bill — still  in  existence 
— was  "Repairs  and  gold  leaf,  £7-15-4."  It  was  taken  down  the  second  time  in 
1822,  third  in  1832,  fourth  in  1844,  fifth  in  1858,  after  which  it  remained  in  place 
until  8  o'clock  P.  M.,  September  8,  1869 — the  day  of  the  great  gale,  when  the 
entire  spire  fell.  Falling  to  the  northeast,  it  crushed  through  the  roof  of  an 
adjoining  house,  and  the  vane  parted  company  with  the  shaft  on  which  it  had 
turned  148  years.  It  was  badly  broken  and  crushed.  The  society  owning  it  had 
it  repaired  and  regilded,  and  kept  inside  the  building  as  a  relic.  Appreciating 
it  as  such,  Mr.  William  A.  Saunders  bought  it,  and  it  was  placed  in  its  present 
position  June  28,  1873. 

Inside  the  vane  were  found  papers  wrapped  in  lead,  but  not  being  air  tight, 
had  decayed  and  could  not  be  read.  There  were  also  two  flattened  bullets,  prob- 
ably shot  in  sport  by  the  British  soldiers  when  they  were  encamped  on  Copp's 
Hill,  near  by. 

The  rooster  measures,  from  bill  to  tip  of  tail,  5  feet,  4  inches;  stands  5  feet, 
5  inches  high,  and  the  body  is  8  or  9  inches  thick.  Its  estimated  weight  is  200 
pounds. 

Profiting  by  the  loss  of  the  old  papers,  a  sealed  copper  box  containing  papers 
and  a  history  of  the  vane  was  placed  within  the  body,  and  after  having  witnessed 
all  the  events  in  Boston's  history  from  only  91  years  after  its  settlement  through 
five  generations,  it  was  placed  in  its  present  position. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  141 

PRENTICE-BATES  HOUSE. 

In  1672,  Solomon  Prentice,  son  of  Henry,  "the  emigrant,"  bought  a  house  and 
land  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  common,  the  original  Prentice  homestead  (nearly 
opposite  the  present  Waterhouse  street),  on  which  estate,  near  the  close  of  his 
life,  he  erected  a  new  house.  His  son  Henry,  who  married  Elizabeth  Rand,  in- 
herited the  homestead.  He  was  deacon  in  Dr.  Appleton's  church,  1741-1774,  but 
resigned  on  account  of  his  great  age.  When  the  Revolution  began  and  Cam- 
bridge became  the  headquarters  of  the  continental  army,  Deacon  Prentice 
retired  to  the  home  of  his  son.  Rev.  Joshua  Prentice,  in  Holliston,  where  he 
died  October  18,  177S.  His  wife  had  died  April  7,  1775.  It  is  thought  that  this  is 
the  house  occupied  in  the  nineteenth  century  by  the  Misses  Betsey  and  Persia 
Bates. 

GARDEN  STREET. 

Garden  street  was  the  home  of  many  branches  of  the  Prentice  and  Wyeth 
families,  and  the  land  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Harvard  College  observatory  and 
botanic  garden  was  early  occupied  by  the  settlers. 

Gregory  Stone,  probably  a  brother  to  Samuel,  who  was  one  of  the  first 
ministers  in  Cambridge,  was  here  as  early  as  1637.  In  1638,  he  purchased  a  house 
and  five  acres,  on  the  westerly  side  of  Garden  street,  between  the  botanic 
garden  and  Concord  avenue,  which  became  his  homestead.  He  was  a  farmer 
and  was  a  representative  for  Cambridge  in  1638,  a  deacon  of  the  church,  and  died 

in  1672.     His  wife,  Lydia,  was  the  widow  of  Cooper,  and  mother  of  the 

first  John  Cooper,  who  was  prominent  in  Cambridge  affairs.  His  son,  John, 
inherited  the  homestead. 

In  1646,  David  Fiske  removed  to  Cambridge  from  Watertown  and  resided  on 
the  northerly  side  of  Linnaean  street,  being  the  southeasterly  corner  of  the  pres- 
ent botanic  garden.  He  was  a  wheelwright,  but  much  employed  in  public  service, 
especially  as  a  surveyor  of  land.  He  married  Lydia,  daughter  of  the  second 
wife  of  Gregory  Stone  and  sister  of  John  Cooper.  Fiske  sold  this  estate  in 
1660  to  Joseph  Daniel,  who  removed  to  Medfield  before  1662.  In  1807  the  botanic 
garden  was  established.  In  the  house  connected  with  the  garden,  lived  Thomas 
Nutall,  botanist  and  ornithologist,  second  professor  of  botany  at  Harvard, 
1822-1834;  to  this  house  in  1842  came  Professor  Asa  Gray,  whose  text-books  of 
botany  introduced  American  flora  to  the  world.  He  will  long  be  remembered 
and  revered,  as  well  as  loved,  by  Cambridge  people.  His  widow  lives  in  the 
house,  and  the  adjoining  herbarium  perpetuates  his  name. 

WATERHOUSE  STREET, 

About  1724,  Waterhouse  street  was  laid  out,  forming  the  present  northern 
boundary  of  the  common.     A  cooper's  shop   (B  and  C60)   stood  here  near  the 


142  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

corner  of  Garden  street  and  close  to  the  Wliitefield  Elm.     The  only  old  house 
now  standing  on  Waterhouse  street  is  the 

WILLIAM  VASSALL-WATEEHOUSE-WARE  HOUSE  (B  and  C59). 

We  do  not  know  when  or  by  whom  it  was  built  but  its  low-studded  rooms, 
fine  wainscoting  and  quaint  cupboards  show  its  antiquity  more  than  does  the 
exterior. 

William  Vassall,  son  of  Major  Leonard  Vassall,  and  brother  of  Colonel  John, 
senior,  and  Henry  Vassall,  lived  here.  He  was  born  in  the  West  Indies  in  1715 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1733;  married  (1)  Ann  Davis,  by  whom  he  had 
eleven  children;  she  died  in  1760,  and  he  married  (2)  Margaret  Hubbard,  lived 
in  Jamaica  until  1748,  then  in  this  house.  He  was  high  sheriff  of  Middlesex, 
and  in  1774,  mandamus  councillor. 

John  Rowe,  in  his  diary,  records  that  William  Vassall  and  all  his  family 
sailed  for  England  May  10,  1775,  with  Timothy  Fitch  and  Thomas  Brattle. 
Vassall  never  returned  to  this  country,  but  was  among  the  Loyalists  banished 
by  the  legislature  in  1778.  He  was  still  much  interested  in  King's  Chapel,  Boston, 
and  protested,  in  1785,  against  the  change  of  the  liturgy  and  ordination  of  James 
Freeman.  He  died  at  Battersea  Rise,  England,  May  8,  1800.  It  is  said  that  the 
Rev.  Winwood  Sargeant  lived  here  while  supplying  the  pulpit  of  Christ  Church. 

After  the  Revolution,  Dr.  Benjamin  Waterhouse  and  his  wife,  Louisa,  daughter 
of  Thomas  Lee,  of  Salem  and  Cambridge,  and  grand-niece  of  Judge  Joseph  Lee, 
were  the  owners  and  occupants  of  the  house.  Dr.  Waterhouse,  born  in  New- 
port, R.  I.,  was  educated  at  the  expense  of  Abraham  Redwood,  after  whom 
the  Library  at  Newport  was  named.  He  introduced  vaccination  into  this 
country.  His  descendants  still  own  a  tea  set,  of  the  so-called  Lowestoft  ware, 
said  to  have  been  sent  by  "Dr.  Jenner  of  England  to  the  Jenner  of  America." 
A  cow  standing  in  a  meadow,  surrounded  by  a  gilt  line,  is  painted  on  each  piece. 
Dr.  Waterhouse  was  appointed  professor  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  medicine 
at  Harvard  in  1783,  a  position  which  he  held  until  1812.  In  1786,  he  received  the 
degree  of  LL.  D.  at  Harvard.  His  daughter  married  William  Ware,  H.  C.  1816, 
the  author  of  "Zenobia,"  who  died  in  1852.  The  Ware  family  occupied  the  house 
until  the  death  of  Miss  Ware  in  1903. 

FOLLEN-WALCOTT  HOUSE. 

The  house  numbered  eleven  on  Waterhouse  street  (now  owned  and  occupied 
by  Dr.  II.  P.  Walcott)  was  built  by  Rev.  Charles  Follen,  who  taught  German  at 
Harvard  1830-1835  and  who  was  lost  in  the  burning  steamer  "Lexington"  on 
Long  Island  Sound,  when  on  his  way  to  take  charge  of  the  Unitarian  society  in 
East  Lexington  in  1840.  After  this,  the  house  came  into  possession  of  Pay- 
master Todd,  United  States  Navy,  and  here  Professor  Joseph  Winlock  edited 
the  Nautical  Almanac. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  143 

OLD  TAVERN-NICHOLLS-GLOVER  HOUSE. 

Research  has  so  far  failed  to  reveal  by  whom  and  when  the  old  tavern  which 
stood  here  was  built,  but  it  was  probably  soon  after  the  turnpike  to  Cambridge 
Farms  (Lexington)  and  Concord  came  into  use.  Mr.  John  Holmes  called  it  the 
Red  Lion  Inn,  and  it  is  possible  that  it  bore  that  name  until  the  Revolution,  or 
later,  and  that  the  old  red  barn  on  the  Percival  Green  lot,  Holmes  place,  was  the 
stable  to  the  inn,  for,  Paige  says,  Abel  Moore,  brother  of  Deacon  Josiah,  kept  a 
tavern  at  the  corner  of  North  avenue  (now  Massachusetts)  and  Holmes  place 
which  may  have  been  this  one.  Moore  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Owen  War- 
land,  October  16,  1776,  and  died  January  2,  1794;  his  widow  married  Israel  Porter. 

Later,  this  inn  was  called  Bush  Tavern,  and  after  it  ceased  to  be  used  as 
a  house  of  public  entertainment,  was  the  property  of  a  Mr.  Nicholls.  Here  the 
late  William  Augustus  Saunders  was  born,  in  1818.  In  1833,  a  Mr.  Parker  occu- 
pied it.  It  was  bought  by  the  late  Henry  R.  Glover,  who  had  the  house  removed 
to  Wendell  street,  and  built  the  present  house,  still  occupied  by  his  family. 

Between  Waterhouse  street  and  Holmes  place,  after  the  Revolution,  stood  a 
sign  post,  pointing  to  Lexington,  surmounted  by  a  gilt  eagle;  this  may  be  dis- 
tinguished in  the  illustration  of  Cambridge  common. 

M.  B.  F.  and  M.  I.  J.  G. 

MASSACHUSETTS  AVENUE. 

Of  the  many  old  houses  on  the  road  to  Menotomy,  long  called  North  (now  Mas- 
sachusetts) avenue,  only  three  remain;  one,  now  standing  on  the  corner  of  Garfield 
street,  said  to  have  been  a  tavern,  but  now  altered  beyond  all  recognition,  the 
Watson-Davenport  House  and  the  Fitch  House — near  Cedar  street. 

On  the  easterly  side  of  the  avenue,  nearly  opposite  Waterhouse  street,  was  the 
house  and  one-fourth  acre  of  land,  bought  by  John  Nutting,  carpenter,  in  1761, 
which  estate  he  mortgaged  to  John  Walton,  of  Reading,  in  1770.  In  the  Revolu- 
tion, Nutting  took  the  part  of  the  king  and  was  proscribed  by  the  Act  of  1778. 
Walton's  executor  took  possession  of  the  estate  in  1786,  and  it  became  the  resi- 
dence of  John  Walton,  who  was  elected  deacon  in  1792,  and  held  office  until  his 
death,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one,  in  1823. 

An  old  cellar  beyond  this,  indicated  another  house,  beyond  which  was  a  Dickson 
house,  said  to  have  been  built  from  the  timbers  of  the  old  barracks  on  the 
common. 

The  estate  of  Nathaniel  Jarvis  and  Madame  Wendell  came  next,  and  then  the 
ancient  house  of  the  Bowers  family.  George  Bowers  came  to  Cambridge  from 
Plymouth,  soon  after  1639;  he  was  the  father  of  Benanuel,  who  married  Elizabeth 
Dunster,  called  by  President  Dunster  "cousin."  George  Bowers  died  in  1656,  and 
the  house  was  left  to  his  widow  and  son,  Jerathmeel,  who  sold  it,  in  1684,  to  John 
Cooper,  Jr.,  and  removed  to  Chelmsford,  in  which  town  he  was  a  prominent  cit- 


144  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

izen  and  its  representative  to  the  general  court.  John  Cooper,  Jr.,  died  February 
12,  1736,  and  the  estate  was  divided  between  his  widow,  Sarah,  grandson,  John 
Cooper,  daughter,  Elizabeth,  and  granddaughter,  Anna  Carter.  On  this  side  of 
tlie  avenue,  opposite  Linnaean  street  also  stood  the  house  of  Deacon  John  Cooper. 
It  remained  in  the  family  for  tliree  generations  and  was  sold  in  1730  to  Ebeuezer 
Frost. 

The  next  house  on  the  easterly  side  of  the  "turnpike"  was  built  by  Gilbert 
Crackbone,  before  1670  (near  the  present  Roseland  street).  The  house,  with  its 
small  windows  with  diamond-shaped  panes,  faced  south  after  the  custom  of  the 
times;  its  gable  toward  the  road  and  the  roof  sloping  nearly  to  the  ground  on  the 
north.  Deacon  Gideon  Frost  sold  his  Kirkland  street  house  and  moved  into  this 
one  about  1763.  At  the  old  curbed  well,  which  long  retained  its  sweep  and  bucket, 
the  British  soldiers  drank  on  their  way  to  Lexington.  Neptune  or  Nipton  Frost, 
as  he  was  called,  a  slave  of  the  deacon's  and  a  drummer  boy  in  the  continental 
army,  died  here  and  was  buried  in  his  master's  tomb  in  the  old  burying  ground. 

The  Goddard  family  owned  the  next  estate.  Benjamin  Goddard,  carpenter,  who 
resided  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Mount  Auburn  and  Holyoke  streets,  about 
1712,  removed  to  this  location  opposite  Porter's  Hotel;  later,  his  sons,  John  and 
Thomas,  occupied  it.  The  latter,  a  carpenter,  inherited  the  homestead  which  was 
then  in  the  territory  called  Charlestown,  now  Cambridge.  Benjamin,  son  of 
Thomas,  was  a  wheelwright,  and  resided  on  the  old  homestead,  at  the  easterly 
corner  of  the  turnpike  and  Beech  street.  His  brother,  Nathaniel,  resided  on 
the  westerly  corner  of  the  turnpike  and  Beech  street.  Stephen  Goddard,  grand- 
son of  Benjamin,  the  original  owner  of  the  estate,  and  son  of  John  and  Eliza- 
beth (Frost)  Goddard,  was  baptized  in  1741.  He  was  a  minute  man  in  Captain 
Thatcher's  company.  Some  of  the  wounded  Continentals  on  April  19th  were 
brought  into  the  Goddard  house,  which  stood  on  the  corner  of  Beech  street. 

The  land  now  occupied  by  Porter's  Hotel  (long  the  resort  of  the  students),  and 
the  bank  was,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  owned  by  the  God- 
dards.  Thomas  Goddard,  brother  of  Benjamin  and  Nathaniel,  was  a  black- 
smith and  occupied  the  estate.  He  died  in  1830,  and  his  son,  Daniel,  the  last 
of  the  name  to  live  there,  died  unmarried  in  1836. 

Near  by  was  the  house  of  Nathaniel  Prentice,  born  in  1743,  son  of  Jonas  and 
Mercy  (Peirce)  Prentiss.  He  and  his  wife,  Abigail  Logan,  planted  the  elms 
which  grew  to  great  size  and  shaded  the  house.  Nathaniel  was  a  chaise  maker. 
Very  early  in  the  morning  of  April  19,  1775,  he  was  aroused  by  the  cry,  "The 
red  coats  have  gone  up  and  no  time  must  be  lost";  he  threw  his  watch  on  to  the 
bed,  told  his  wife  to  take  the  children  to  the  Prentice  house  on  Garden  street 
(where  the  botanic  garden  now  is)  and  joined  Captain  Thatcher's  company  on  its 
way  to  Lexington,    He  died  in  1817. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  146 

DICKSON-GODDARD-FITCH  HOUSE. 

Near  the  east  corner  of  Massachusetts  avenue  and  Cedar  street,  opposite  the 
car  stable,  stands  a  very  old  house,  whose  low  roof  and  old-fashioned  windows 
attract  the  attention  of  the  sight-seer  on  his  way  to  Arlington.  Cedar  street  was 
laid  out  by  the  early  settlers  that  they  might  get  to  the  swamps  and  pastures. 
It  was  called  Kidder's  lane,  and  is  very  near  where  the  Central  Massachusetts 
Railroad  crosses  Massachusetts  avenue,  just  outside  our  key  map. 

Inside  the  house  the  ceilings  are  low  and  still  show  the  heavy  beams;  the  parti- 
tion walls  are  of  brick,  which  may  be  two  centuries  old,  but  the  old  chimneys 
have  been  torn  down  and  the  Sre-places  filled  up.  Mr.  Abel  Fitch,  of  the  old 
Bedford  family  of  that  name,  came  here  to  live  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  and 
traces  the  ownership  of  the  house  back  to  1853  when  Nathan  Robbins  bought 
the  estate  of  which  this  is  a  part,  from  the  sons  of  Eunice  Goddard.  In  the  deed 
of  sale,  it  is  described  as  a  "homestead  of  about  5  acres,  bounded  northeasterly  by 
the  great  road  leading  from  West  Cambridge  to  the  Colleges;  westerly  by  Kid- 
der's Lane,"  etc.  Elsewhere  it  is  said  to  be  on  the  road  leading  from  Por- 
ter's Tavern  to  West  Cambridge,  then  running  to  the  road  leading  to  the  old 
race-course. 

Eunice  Dickson  was  the  daughter  of  Henry  Dickson  by  his  second  wife,  Sarah 
Cook.  She  married,  in  1806,  John  Goddard,  son  of  Thomas  Goddard,  the  black- 
smith, and  died  between  1815  and  1818.  Her  husband  was  a  farmer,  and  as  late 
as  1841  he  was  still  living  in  the  old  house,  a  tenant  by  courtesy  even  after  his 
second  marriage.  He  was  killed  on  the  Fitchburg  Railroad  track  in  1853.  Henry 
Dickson,  baptized  in  1741,  died  in  1815,  leaving  all  he  possessed  to  this  daughter, 
Eunice,  his  only  surviving  child.  John  Goddard  was  administrator  of  the  estate, 
in  right  of  his  wife.    In  the  inventory  we  find  these  items: 

To  a   piece  of   land,   it  being   the  homestead,   containing  about   5   acres, 

at  $75  per  acre  $375 

To  a  dwelling  house  on  the  same  300 

To  a  barn,  &c 40 

As  early  as  1642,  William  Dickson,  a  large  tax-payer  in  the  New  Towne,  lived 
in  a  house  facing  Brattle  square,  his  lands  extending  from  Mount  Auburn  street 
to  Winthrop  square.  Not  long  after,  the  family  must  have  bought  an  estate  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Menotomy  river  (now  Alewife  brook),  extending  into  Charles- 
town,  for  at  his  death,  in  1692,  William  Dickson  left  this  homestead  to  his 
heirs,  three  children  and  one  grandchild.  In  old  wills  the  house  generally  goes 
to  the  sons,  and  to  the  daughters  the  privilege  of  living  in  it,  so  his  only  son, 
John,  inherited  the  home. 

John  Dickson,  born  in  1655-6,  died  in  1737  aged  70,  giving  his  real  estate  to  his 

10 


146  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

three  sons — a  double  share  to  the  eldest,  William,  who  after  1720  went  to  live 
on  the  Charlestown  part  of  the  estate.  John,  born  in  1698,  and  Edward,  born  in 
1701-2,  probably  lived  in  the  house  with  the  three  daughters.  The  house  eventu- 
ally seems  to  have  become  the  property  of  Edward,  for  the  inventory  of  his 
estate,  made  after  his  death  in  1788,  mentions  the  "old"  house  and  two  barns; 
and  two  wills  made  in  1785,  speak  of  a  dwelling  house  valued  at  £38— the 
west  end  of  which  he  gave  to  his  son,  Edward,  born  1737,  and  the  east  end  to 
Isaiah,  born  in  1747,  with  all  other  buildings  on  the  estate;  to  each  daughter  he 
gave  a  cow  and  her  keep,  and  the  privilege  of  living  in  the  house  for  her  natural 
life,  or  until  she  married;  but  to  Henry,  the  father  of  Eunice,  and  to  his 
brother,  Gilbert,  only  the  privilege  of  fishing  in  the  brook,  "sufficient  for  them- 
selves and  families."     All  the  furniture  went  to  Edward  and  the  daughters. 

Whether  the  estate  was  not  large  enough  to  give  a  share  to  all  four  sons,  or 
whetlier  those  cut  off  had  abundant  means  already,  is  not  clear;  but  one  of  them 
showed  a  keen  interest  in  the  value  of  the  homestead,  for,  in  1806,  eight  years 
after  his  father's  death,  Henry  complained  that  his  brother,  Edward,  had  put 
in  no  account  as  administrator,  and  later,  in  the  account  rendered,  there  is  a 
note  due  him  for  £48.15  from  Edward.  Perhaps  this  note  is  the  connecting  link 
in  the  chain  of  ownership  in  the  old  home  on  Cedar  street.  If  this  is  so,  there 
is  an  unbroken  chain  from  at  least  1692  to  the  death  of  Henry  Dickson  in  1815, 
when  Eunice  Dickson  Goddard  received  it  by  will,  and  lived  there  with  her 
husband  until  she  died.  Edward  Dickson,  her  uncle,  died  without  issue  in 
1820.  John  Goddard  was  living  in  the  old  house  in  1841  and  probably  till  his 
death  in  1853,  for  it  is  in  that  year  that  his  sons,  John  and  Charles  H.,  sold  the 
estate  to  Nathan  Robbins  and  from  him,  after  a  few  transfers,  the  house  came 
to  Abel  Fitch,  who  now  owns  it.  H.  E.  McI. 

WATSON-DAVENPORT  HOUSE— DAVENPORT  TAVERN. 

Under  the  shadow  of  a  giant  elm,  near  the  corner  of  Massachusetts  and 
Rindge  avenues,  stands  the  old  dwelling  whose  history  is  so  closely  connected 
with  the  ever-memorable  April  19,  1775.  At  that  time,  the  house  was  owned 
and  occupied  by  Jacob  Watson,  about  whom  little  is  known,  save  that  he  was 
a  blacksmith,  and  that  he  belonged  to  a  family  which  had  been  connected 
with  Cambridge  history  since  1650,  and  which  had  given  to  the  town  a  number 
of  able  and  patriotic  citizens. 

Of  the  house  now  standing,  only  the  front  portion  belonged  to  the  original 
dwelling,  the  ell  in  the  rear  having  been  added  by  a  later  occupant.  Just 
when  it  was  built  is  not  known,  but  it  was  occupied  by  Jacob's  father  before 
1757,  the  year  of  his  death.  Its  huge  chimney,  exposed  rafters  and  low  ceilings 
still  mark  the  handicraft  of  the  builder  of  colonial  days.  The  house  stood  on 
the  line  of  British  retreat  from  Concord  and  Lexington,  and  as  all  along  the 
way  every  tree  and  wall  had  given  vantage  ground  to  some  patriotic  citizen,  so 


THE  DAVENPORT  TAA'EKX 


WATSON-DA  VEX  PU1;T    IIOISE 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  147 

a  pile  of  empty  casks  in  the  yard  of  this  dwelling  offered  a  shelter  to  three  men 
in  the  defence  of  their  country.  In  their  eagerness  to  meet  the  foe,  however, 
they  failed  to  notice  the  approach  of  a  flank  guard  of  the  British,  who  dis- 
covered their  retreat,  and  thus  three  more  brave  lives  were  sacrificed  to  the 
cause  of  liberty. 

Two  of  these,  John  Hicks  and  Moses  Richardson,  were  Cambridge  men, 
and  the  story  of  their  lives  and  of  the  finding  of  their  dead  bodies  by  the 
little  son  of  the  former  has  already  been  told.  The  third,  Isaac  Gardner, 
Esq.,  was  a  valued  citizen  of  Brookline.  A  fourth  martyr  may  be  added 
to  the  list,  who  fell  in  the  shadow  of  the  old  house,  on  this  day,  and  the 
tragedy  has  a  touch  of  comedy  which  only  adds  to  its  pathos.  William  Marcy, 
a  vagabond  sort  of  fellow,  who  had  been  warned  out  of  the  town  some  five 
years  before,  but  who  was  employed  at  this  time  by  Dr.  Williara  Kneeland 
as  a  laborer,  sat  on  the  fence  enjoying  the  spectacle  of  the  bright  uniforms 
of  the  approaching  "red-coats."  Feeble  in  intellect,  he  imagined  the  parade 
to  be  an  ordinary  training  or  muster,  and  the  skirmish  a  sham  fight.  But  the 
British  trooper  was  no  respecter  of  persons,  and  this  harmless  victim  suf- 
fered the  fate  of  the  three  patriots  entrenched  in  the  yard  near  by. 

For  many  years,  the  old  house  bore  traces  of  that  day's  conflict,  in  the 
scars  left  by  the  bullets.  An  old  battered  bullet  was  found  imbedded  in  the 
coping  of  the  building,  some  years  ago,  and  until  effaced  by  modern  repair- 
ing, three  bullet  holes  were  plainly  to  be  seen  in  the  farther  wall  of  the 
room  at  the  right  of  the  front  door.  Tradition  says  that  a  British  deserter 
was  found  in  the  cellar,  and  that  the  house  was  used  as  a  hospital  after 
the  battle  of  Lexington,  which  may  possibly  be  true.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
the  house  officially  recognized  as  a  hospital  at  that  time  was  not  the  home 
of  Jacob  Watson,  but  of  his  own  cousin,  Abraham  Watson,  for,  on  April  22nd 
it  was  ordered  by  General  Ward  "that  a  sergeant  and  six  men  mount  daily 
to  guard  the  wounded  at  Mr.  Abraham  Watson's  house."  This  house,  all 
trace  of  which  has  been  lost,  evidently  stood  on  the  same  lot  as  Jacob's, 
but  nearer  Cogswell  avenue. 

Abraham  Watson,  the  third  of  that  name,  and  a  tanner  by  trade,  was  a 
man  of  intelligence  and  energy,  and  was  a  prominent  and  useful  citizen. 
After  his  death,  the  "Boston  Gazette"  stated:  "He  was  a  gentleman  of  su- 
perior abihties,  which  early  introduced  him  into  public  life,  being  honored 
for  a  commission  for  the  peace,  and  much  employed  in  the  public  affairs  of 
the  town,  parish  and  church.  In  the  American  Revolution,  he  took  an  early 
and  decided  part,  representing  the  town  in  the  Provincial  Congress,  in  the 
first  General  Court,  and  in  the  Convention  for  forming  the  Constitution  of 
this  Commonwealth."  Besides  these  various  offices,  he  at  different  times 
served  as  assessor,  town  treasurer  and  selectman,  and  was  also  one  of  a 
special  committee  of  nine  appointed  "to  chuse  a  Grammar  Schoolmaster," 
thus  proving  himself  to  be  a  versatile  and  valued  citizen. 


148  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

His  son,  Abraham,  irraduated  from  Harvard  in  1771,  and  became  a  practising 
physician.  He  was  surgeon  of  Colonel  Gardner's  regiment  and  it  was  doubt- 
less because  of  bis  profession  that  his  father's  house  was  chosen  as  a  hos- 
pital. How  long  this  house  stood  after  the  Revolution,  or  what  its  ultimate 
history  was,   records  do  not  show. 

Of  the  Jacob  Watson  house,  which  is  still  standing,  the  later  history  seems 
to  be  uneventful.  It  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Watson  family  for  a  good 
many  years,  but  was  finally  bought  by  John  Davenport,  who  occupied  it 
until  his  death,  and  it  is  still  in  the  possession  of  his  heirs.  Previous  to  his 
residence  in  this  house,  John  Davenport  owned  and  occupied  the  old  tavern, 
known  by  his  name,  which  stood  near  the  western  corner  of  Beech  street 
and  Massachusetts  avenue,  where  the  British  turned  into  the  Concord  road 
on  their  way  to  Lexington.  For  many  years,  this  was  one  of  the  old  land- 
marks of  North  Cambridge.  The  building  was  used  as  a  tavern  at  the  time 
of  the  Revolution  and  for  many  years  previous,  and  if  we  may  again  depend 
on  tradition.  Lord  Percy's  troops  stopped  here  to  refresh  themselves,  on  their 
way  to  Lexington.  After  this,  the  house  was  a  tavern  for  many  years,  but 
was  finally  transformed  into  a  tenement  house. 

The  building  really  consisted  of  two  houses  joined  together,  evidently  built 
at  different  times,  and  with  a  different  line  of  frontage  towards  the  street, 
so  that  the  front  showed  an  angle. 

When  St.  James's  Church  was  erected,  this  old  house  encroached  on  land 
needed  for  the  new  building.  The  poorer  part  of  the  old  tavern  was  therefore 
torn  down,  and  the  better  portion  was  sold  and  moved  to  Eustis  street,  near 
Beacon,  where  it  still  stands,  easily  recognized  by  the  curious  angular  ir- 
regularity of  its  construction. 

The  three  elms,  which  stand  before  the  church  at  the  present  time,  are  the 
only  relics  left  on  the  site  of  the  old  landmark. 

The  original  grant  of  land  to  the  first  Watson  who  settled  in  Cambridge, 
John,  by  name,  seems  to  have  extended  from  a  little  below  the  bridge  at 
Cambridge  station  nearly  to  the  Arlington  line.  Portions  of  this  territory 
passed  into  other  hands,  but  a  great  part  of  it  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
Watson  heirs,  whose  homes  were  scattered  along  the  line  of  the  old  turnpike 
(Massachusetts  avenue).  The  little  old  house  near  the  comer  of  Russell 
street  was  probably  that  occupied  by  Daniel  Watson,  while  the  old  tavern 
had  been  the  home  of  Isaac  Watson,  who  died  in  1758,  and  whose  wife  was 
daughter  of  Deacon  Samuel  Whittemore,  who,  though  nearly  seventy-nine 
years  old,  went  out  to  meet  the  British  as  they  retreated  from  Lexington.  He 
was  shot,  bayonetted  and  left  for  dead,  but  such  was  his  wonderful  vitality 
that  he  recovered  from  his  injuries  and  lived  to  be  ninety-six. 

This  Isaac  Watson's  father,  also  named  Isaac,  married  for  his  second  wife 
Abiel,    widow  of  Edmund  Angier,   landlady  of  the  Blue  Anchor  Tavern.    He 


COOPER-HILL-AUSTIX  HOUSE.     Back 


COOPER-HILL-AUSTIN  HOUSE.     Front 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  149 

liv«^d  near  the  corner  of  Dover  street.    In  1742,  his  house  was   destroyed   by 

fire  and  he  perished  in  the  flames. 

C.  J.  A. 

COOPER-HILL-AUSTIN  HOUSE, 

The  Cooper-Hill- Austin  house,  or,  as  it  has  been  called  for  the  last  one  hundred 
years,  the  Austin  House,  was  built  in  1657,  by  John  Cooper.  There  is  no  real 
historic  interest  connected  with  the  house,  its  only  history  being  that  of  tliose 
who  have  lived  in  it. 

Just  for  whom  John  Cooper  built  it  is  not  known.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
he  ever  lived  in  it  himself,  but  there  is  much  evidence  that  he  owned  six  acres 
and  lived  in  a  house  on  the  road  to  Menotomy,   opposite  the  Cow  Common. 

The  fact  that  John  Cooper  built  the  Cooper-Hill-Austin  House  is  undis- 
puted. He  certainly  owned  the  land,  and,  in  1657,  had  license  from  the  town 
"to  fell  timber  on  the  Cow  Common  for  his  building."  The  house  was  built 
facing  the  south,  as  were  all  the  early  houses.  The  beams  are  all  of  oak, 
which  are  as  solid  today  as  when  they  were  cut,  two  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  years  ago.  The  original  well  is  still  in  existence,  though  covered, 
and   is   just   west   of   the   house   and   in  front  of  the  open   shed. 

No  road,  or  even  lane,  passed  the  house  when  it  was  built,  nor,  indeed, 
for  sixty-eight  years  after.  Running  up  to  it  was  the  Cow  Common,  which, 
laid  out  in  1638,  embraced  the  land  now  lying  between  Garden  and  Linnaean 
streets  and  Massachusetts  avenue.  It  was  not  until  1724  that  that  portion 
of  the  common  between  Waterhouse  and  Linnaean  streets  was  sold  by  the 
town  "for  building  and  farming  purposes,"  and  it  was  not  until  the  follow- 
ing year,  1725,  that  Love  Lane,  the  present  Linnaean  street,  was  laid  out  as 
a  highway  from  "the  road  to  Menotomy"  (Massachusetts  avenue)  to  the 
"highway   to  the   Great   Swamp"    (Garden  street). 

The  lane,  as  described  by  one  who  knew  it  about  a  hundred  years 
after  it  was  made,  was  a  pretty,  rural  road,  in  its  natural  state,  without 
the  least  grading,  with  ruts  made  by  an  occasional  cart  or  chaise,  and,  of 
course,  no  sidewalks.  On  the  side  toward  the  house,  it  was  three  or  four 
feet  higher  than  the  other  side,  as  there  the  land  began  to  rise  toward  the 
famous  "Gallows  Hill,"  which  was  later,  when  its  gruesome  usefulness  was 
over,  again,  as  formerly,  called  "Jones's  Hill."  The  lane  was  ungraded  as 
late  as  1850,  when  the  town  put  it  in  a  better  condition,  and  borrowed  a 
name  from  the  eminent  botanist,  Linnaeus,  presumably  on  account  of  its 
proximity  to  the  Botanic  Garden,  established  there  in  1805. 

On  the  lane  in  these  early  days  there  were  two  small  one-story  houses. 
One  of  these  was  occupied  by  a  colored  family;  the  other  was  near  where 
the  Garden  grounds  now  are,  and  may  have  been  that  of  Solomon  Prentice, 
who  owned   what   is   now  the   Garden,    and   lived   in   his   house   there   in   the 


150  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

1750's.  Before  that,  it  was  owned  by  the  Holman  family.  These  were  the 
only  houses  on  the  street,  or,  indeed,  near  it,  until  comparatively  recent 
years. 

The  house  was  well  built,  and  has  had  good  care,  as  the  original  clapboards 
are  still  on  it,  placed  quite  near  together  at  the  bottom,  widening  as  they 
go  up,  and  nailed  with  the  old  hand-wrought  nails.  On  the  east  is  the  over- 
hang of  the  third  story,  and,  at  the  back,  or  north,  the  roof  slopes  from  the 
top  to  within  five  or  six  feet  of  the  ground.  Inside,  the  house  is  planned 
much  as  were  all  such  old  houses:  the  large  chimney  with  its  five  flues,  in  the 
middle  of  the  house,  a  large  square  room  on  either  side  of  the  front  door, 
and  rooms  of  the  same  size  above  them,  each  room  having  a  large  fire-place, 
and  the  huge  beams  exposed  on  the  ceilings.  At  the  back,  on  the  first  floor, 
was  originally  one  long,  rather  narrow  room,  for  the  kitchen,  with  a  tiny 
bed-room  at  one  end.  On  the  second  floor,  back  of  the  large  chambers,  are 
two  step-bed-rooms,  as  they  were  called — a  step  down  from  the  chambers, 
the  ceiling  at  the  back  slanting  with  the  roof.  In  the  third  story  are  two 
quite   good-sized    rooms. 

John  Cooper  was  a  prominent  man  of  his  day — selectman  froimi  1646  to 
1690;  town  clerk,  1669  to  16S1;  and  deacon  of  the  church  from  1668  until  his 
death,  August  22,  1691,  at  the  age  of  73.  He  was  the  son,  by  a  former  mar- 
riage, of  Lydia,  wife  of  Gregory  Stone,  and  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Nathan- 
iel Sparhawk.  The  house  was  owned  and  probably  occupied  by  the  three  gen- 
erations of  Coopers  following  John — his  son,  Samuel,  who  married  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Deacon  Walter  Hastings,  1682;  his  grandson,  Walter,  who  mar- 
ried Martha,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Goddard,  in  1722;  and  his  great-grand- 
son, Walter,  who  married  Lydia  Kidder.  Walter,  of  the  third  generation, 
died  in  1751.  He  left  to  his  widow,  Martha,  "the  west  half  of  his  dwelling 
house,  with  liberty  of  the  oven  in  t'other  room^  the  east  half  of  the  barn, 
and  liberty  to  pass  and  repass  about  the  house  and  barn."  The  other  half 
he  left  to  his  son  Walter — the  fourth,  and  last  generation  of  Coopers  to  own 
and  occupy  it.  This  Walter  married  Lydia  Kidder,  in  1755,  and  died  a  year 
later,  at  the  early  age  of  27,  before  the  birth  of  his  son,  Walter,  who  died  at 
the  age  of  two;  therefore,  half  the  property  was  inherited  by  the  mother, 
Lydia,  and  afterward  the  other  half  was  purchased  when  she  married,  for 
her  second  husband,  Jonathan  Hill.  Two  children  were  born  of  this  marriage 
—Jonathan  Cooper  Hill,  1763,  and  Lydia  Hill,  1766,  and  they  inherited  the 
property— again  set  off  in  halves,  the  east  half  and  the  west  half— and  to  the 
last  occupant  of  the  house,  in  1902,  at  least,  the  rooms  were  always  desig- 
nated as  the  east  parlor  and  the  west— the  east  chamber  and  the  west. 

When  Lydia  was  baptized  at  the  First  Parish  meeting-house  (erected  In 
1756  and  used  until  1833),  it  happened  that  a  student  of  the  college,  Jeremiah 
Fogg,   of  Kensington,   N,   H.,  was  present,  and  Is  said  to  have  declared  that, 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAINIBRIDGE  151 

when  she  grew  up,  he  would  marry  her;  and  marry  her  he  did,  having  made 
her  acquaintance  as  a  child  of  ten.  In  1775,  while  he  was  with  the  troops 
in  Cambridge.  Major  Jeremiah  Fogg,  born  in  1749,  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Jer- 
emiah Fogg,  of  Kensington,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1768,  taught  in 
Newburyport  several  years,  where  he  began  the  study  of  law  with  Theophilus 
Parsons.  In  1775,  he  entered  Colonel  Poor's  regiment,  as  one  of  the  staff  offi- 
cers, and  served  through  the  whole  war,  after  which  he  returned  to  Kensington 
and  was  a  member  of  the  New  Hampshire  senate  for  several  years.  As  an 
instance  of  his  coolness  and  courage,  one  of  his  soldiers  said  that,  "at  one 
time  his  company  was  surrounded  by  a  superior  force  of  the  enemy,  and  then 
Major  Fogg  told  us  to  load  our  guns,  put  on  our  bayonets  and  blaze 
through!"  He  was  with  General  Sullivan,  in  1779,  during  the  expedition 
against  the  Indians,  and  his  journal  (published  in  1879)  though  written  in 
camp,  manifests  his  superior  education  and  ability.  Harvard  College  Library 
owns  his  manuscript  orderly  book,  kept  while  stationed  at  "Winter  Hill, 
October  28,   1775,   to  January  12,   1776. 

In  the  west  chamber  of  the  house  could  still  (1902)  be  seen  the  initials  of 
Jonathan  and  Lydia  Hill,  with  the  date  1777,  cut  there  by  them  in  their 
childhood.  "When  Lydia,  Mrs.  Fogg,  was  very  old,  she  visited  the  house  and 
told  Mrs.  Holden,  then  a  young  girl— Margaret  Cutter— that  she,  herself, 
planted  the  red  lilac  (which  is  still  growing  in  front  of  the  west  parlor)  in 
1775.  And  to  Mrs.  Holden,  who  was  brought  up  there  from  childhood  (1828), 
by  Mrs.  Martha  (Frost)  Austin,  we  are  Indebted  for  many  dates  and  things 
of  interest  about  the  oJd  place.  She  loved  it,  as  did  all  who  lived  in  it,  and, 
as  so  few  do,  wrote  things  down;  as,  for  instance,  "the  elmi  on  the  other  side 
of  the  street,  opposite  the  house,  was  planted  by  William  Frost,  sen.,  in 
1800." 

Jonathan  C.  and  Lydia  sold  the  place  in  1788  to  Deacon  Gideon  Frost,  son 
of  Edmund  Frost  and  Hannah,  daughter  of  Deacon  Samuel  Cooper.  Deacon 
Gideon,  therefore,  was  great-grandson  of  John   Cooper,   who  built   the  house. 

In  the  inventory  of  the  estate,  in  1783,  the  mansion  house  is  valued  at  £100, 
the  homestead  of  11^^  acres  at  £345,  and  the  nine  acres  in  the  west  fields  at 
£120.  Deacon  Gideon  did  not  live  in  the  house,  but  continued  to  live  in 
his  house  on  the  Menotomy  road,  next  to  the  estate  of  his  great  grand- 
father Cooper,  the  site  of  Deacon  Gideon's  house  being  where  the  house  oc- 
cupied by  Dr.  Taylor  now  stands.  The  old  well,  now  filled  up,  was  directly 
under  the  present  house  from  which,  by  the  way,  tradition  tells  us  the  "Brit- 
ishers" drank,  to  their  great  gratification,  on  that  famous  "Wednesday  morn- 
ing, April  19,  1775.  His  son,  William,  lived  in  the  Linnaean  street  house  in 
1800  surely,  and  probably  up  to  the  time  of  bis  father's  death,  in  1803,  when 
he  removed  to  the  one  until  then  occupied  by  the  father,  but  left  to  William 
by  his  father's  will — "the  house  I  now  live  in,   on  the  road  to   Menotomy." 


152  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

The  Linnaean  street  house  Gideon  left  to  his  two  then  unmarried  daughters, 
Martha  and  Sarah  Frost;  to  Martha,  the  west  half,  with  half  the  orchard  and 
upland;  the  other  half  to  Sarah,  the  kind,  benevolent  Aunt  Sally,  of  that  day, 
who  never  married,  but  died  in  1821,  in  the  other  old  house  on  the  road  to 
Menotomy,  which  was  so  allied  to  the  old  Linnaean  street  house  in  that,  for 
so  many  years,  both  had  been  occupied  by  Coopers  and  by  Frosts. 

Deacon  Gideon  was  a  blacksmith,  and  his  account  book  was  still  in  exist- 
ence in  the  house  in  1902,  and  also  a  table  and  highboy  known  to  have  be- 
longed to  him.  In  the  inventory  of  his  estate,  it  is  called  the  Cooper-Hill 
estate.  All  the  four  generations  of  Coopers,  who  owned  the  house,  and  al- 
so the  Frost  family,  are  buried  in  the  old  cemetery,  corner  of  Garden  street. 

Martha  Frost  married,  in  1807,  Thomas  Austin,  of  Boston,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard,  in  1791,  who  bought  the  "east  half  of  the  house  and  barn,  and  half 
the  orchard  and  upland"  of  Sarah  Frost,  for  five  hundred  dollars,  and,  since 
then,  it  has  been  called  the  Austin  House,  They  improved  the  house  and 
grounds  and  brought  their  wedding  furniture  and  silver  there.  The  apple 
orchard  was  set  out  that  year,  part  of  which  is  still  bearing,  on  the  Mellen 
estate.  The  long  kitchen  was  divided  by  a  partition,  making  a  tiny  dining- 
room,  and  a  tinier  kitchen,  with  the  large  fire-place  and  oven  occupying  one 
whole  side  of  it.  Another  change  probably  made  at  that  time  was  that 
of  building  on  the  projection  for  the  front  door,  and  placing  the  arbor, 
which  was  then  against  the  house,  where  it  now  is.  About  1820,  the  house 
took  fire  inside  the  wall  of  the  west  parlor,  near  the  chimney,  but,  by  chop- 
ping through  the  wall,  the  fire  was  extinguished. 

Mrs.  Martha  Austin  died  in  1838,  her  husband  having  died  in  1816.  She 
left  one  daughter,  Susan,  married  in  1837  to  Rev.  Reuben  Seiders,  who,  before 
his  marriage,  changed  his  name  to  Richard  Thomas  Austin.  There  was  no 
child  whoi  lived  to  perpetuate  the  name,  and,  upon  Mrs.  Susan  Austin's 
death,  the  estate  passed  into  possession  of  the  children  of  her  cousin.  Mr. 
Austin  was  a  Unitarian  minister,  having  graduated  from  Bowdoin  College. 
in  1831,  and  from  the  divinity  school  of  Harvard  University,  in  1S36.  He  was 
one  of  the  teachers  of  the  Latin  Grammar  School  and  preached  at  Wayland 
and  other  places.  He  died  while  settled  at  Lunenburg,  in  1847.  Mrs.  Austin 
lived  in  the  old  house  until  her  death,  in  1885.  Many  eminent  men  of  the 
last  century  were  her  friends,  and  frequented  the  old  house — Dr.  Newell,  the 
minister  of  the  First  Parish,  whose  name  is  scratched  on  one  of  the  old 
window  panes;  Henry  W.  Longfellow,  who  was  at  her  wedding,  in  1837,  and 
brought  her  a  rose  bud  from  his  garden;  Starr  King,  John  Holmes,  Samuel 
Longfellow;  and,  later,  Dr.  Morrill  Wyman,  John  White  Chadwick,  George 
W.  Hosmer,  and  many  others. 

A  rather  unusual  fact  is  that  a  record  of  daily  occurrences  was  kept  by 
different  inmates  of  the  house,  without  a  break  of  more  than  a  few  weeks, 
from  1833  until  October,  1902.  A.  H.  H. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  153 

We  may  build  more  splendid  habitations, 

Fill  our  rooms  with  paintings  and  with  sculptures, 

But  we  cannot 
Buy  with  gold  the  old  associations! 

HOLMES  PLAGE  AND  KIRKLAND  STREET. 

East  of  the  common,  where,  before  that  land  was  enclosed,  the  King's  High- 
way from  Charlestown  to  Watertown  crossed  the  turnpike  to  Lexington,  is 
Holmes  place.  Very  early  in  the  history  of  the  town  four  small  homestead  lots, 
about  half  an  acre  each,  were  granted  here,  running  east  from  the  turnpike  and 
facing  the  colleges;  behind  them  stretched  the  "Pine  Swamp,"  all  the  way  to 
the  Charlestown  (now  Somerville)  line. 

:  MEANE-HASTINGS  HOUSE— GANNETT  HALL  (B  and  C58). 

The  corner  lot  on  the  turnpike  was  granted  to  John  Meane  in  1635,  who  died 
March  19,  1646,  leaving  a  widow,  Ann,  and  two  daughters,  Sarah,  six  years  old, 
and  Mary,  four.  His  widow  married  John  Hastings,  the  tanner,  who  lived  on 
Brattle  street,  and  was  his  second  wife.  His  two  sons,  born  in  England,  married 
her  two  daughters.  Walter  Hastings,  the  eldest  son,  married  Sarah  Meane  in 
1655,  and  Samuel  Hastings,  the  second  son,  married  Mary  Meane,  in  1661.  Walter 
and  Sarah  Hastings  inherited  the  Meane  homestead,  and  nine  children  were 
Iborn  to  them  here,  of  whom  only  three  lived  beyond  childhood.  A  son.  Dr.  John 
Hastings,  Harvard,  1681,  died  before  1705  in  the  Barbadoes;  Hannah,  who  married 
Samuel  Cooper,  son  of  John;  and  Jonathan.  Mrs.  Sarah  (Meane)  Hastings  died 
in  1673,  and  her  husband  married,  eleven  months  later,  for  his  second  wife, 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Deacon  Henry  Bright,  of  Watertown.  There  were  three 
children  by  the  second  marriage,  one  of  whom,  Abigail,  married  Moses  Bordman 
in  1700.  The  second  Mrs.  Hastings  died  in  1702,  and  six  months  later,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-two.  Deacon  Walter  Hastings  married  Elizabetli  (Cook),  the 
widow  of  Elder  Jonas  Clarke,  who  survived  him.  Walter  Hastings  was  deacon 
of  the  First  Church  for  twenty  years,  selectman  for  thirty  years,  and  was  prom- 
inent in  all  public  affairs  of  his  time. 

The  estate  went  to  his  only  surviving  son,  Jonathan,  the  grandson  of  the  first 
owner,  who  like  his  father  and  grandfather,  was  a  tanner.  He  married  Sarah 
Sharp,  of  Brookline.  He  acquired  much  land  and  kept  horses,  which  he  let  out 
to  the  students.  He  was  called  "Yankee  Jonathan"  from  his  favorite  expres- 
sion; he  would  speak  of  a  "Yankee  good  horse,"  "Yankee  good  cider."  The  term 
was  taken  up  by  the  students  and  spread  far  and  wide  and  is  thought  by  some 
to  have  been  the  origin  of  the  word  Yankee. 

In  1737,  he  bought  the  house  on  the  east  side  of  Holmes  place,  which  a  few 
years  later  he  sold  to  his  son  Jonathan  Hastings,  Jr.,  the  patriot,  steward  of  the 
college.    Jonathan  Hastings,  Sr.,  died  in  1742.    His  two  older  sons  graduated  at 


154  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

Harvard.    The  homestead  went  to  his  fourth  son,  John,  who  died  unmarried  July 
22,  1797. 

After  the  Revolution  it  passed  through  many  hands  aud  was,  in  the  thirties 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  occupied  by  Samuel  William  Pomeroy,  who  built  the 
present  wooden  house  with  pillared  portico.  It  was  bought  by  Harvard  College 
in  1866,  but  later  sold  to  Mrs.  Baker,  who  kept  here  a  club  table  for  students, 
and  in  1897  it  was  again  bought  by  the  college,  the  present  owner.  It  now  bears 
the  name  of  the  Gannett  house. 

PERCIVAL  GREEN-FOX  HOUSE. 

The  next  lot  was  granted  to  Percival  Green,  who,  when  he  was  thirty-two  years 
old,  came  here  with  his  wife,  Ellen,  and  two  servants,  in  the  "Susan  and  Ellen," 
April  18,  1635.  He  had  two  children,  John,  born  in  1636,  and  Elizabeth,  born  in 
1639,  who  married  John  Hall,  of  Concord,  Cambridge  and  Medford.  On  Decem- 
ber 25,  1639,  Percival  Green  died.  His  widow,  Ellen,  married,  in  1650,  Thomas 
Fox,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a  descendant  of  the  author  of  the  famous  "Book 
of  Martyrs."  He  came  to  Cambridge  in  1649.  Thomas  Fox  was  married  four 
times;  his  first  wife,  Rebecca,  the  mother  of  his  only  child,  Jabez,  died  at  Concord 
in  1647;  he  married  the  widow  Ellen  Green  and  lived  in  this  house  until  it  was 
burned  in  1681  or  1682.  His  wife  died  in  May,  1682,  "in  consequence  of  a  fall," 
and  he  seems  to  have  remained  in  possession  of  the  land.  His  stepchildren,  John 
and  Elizabeth  Green,  both  married  in  1656,  and,  after  John's  death  (he  was 
marshal-general  of  the  colony),  in  1691,  the  widow  and  children  sued  Thomas 
Fox  for  the  estate  and  obtained  it. 

The  third  wife  of  Thomas  Fox  was  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Charles  Chadwick, 
of  Watertown,  whom  he  married  in  1683.  She  died  in  February,  1685,  and  was 
buried  beside  her  first  husband.  In  December  of  the  same  year,  he  married 
Rebecca,  widow  of  Nicholas  Wyeth,  whose  first  husband  was  Thomas  Andrew. 
Thomas  Fox  died  in  1693,  aged  eighty-five,  and  his  widow  lived  until  1698.  He 
occupied  many  small  offices  and  his  name  frequently  occurs  in  the  Records.  His 
son,  Jabez,  lived  in  the  house  on  the  east  side  of  Holmes  place,  later  known  as 
the  Holmes  house. 

It  is  thought  by  some  that  a  tavern  called  the  Red  Lion  Inn  occupied  the 
Green  lot,  and  a  large  red  barn  was  standing  there  early  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, but  so  far  no  record  of  a  house  on  this  site,  since  that  of  Percival  Green 
was  burned,  has  been  found.  The  vacant  lot  was  occupied  by  shows  and  cake- 
stalls  on  commencement  day,  the  overflow  from  the  common. 

PARKS-JOHN    GREEN-NATHANIEL    HILL-NATHANIEL    HANCOCK- 
GANNETT  HOUSE— RAILROAD  STATION  (B  and  C57). 

This  house  was  owned  first  by  Richard  Parks,  who  lived  here  from  1638  until 
his  death  in  1665.    He  was  probably  the  father  of  Isabel,  wife  of  Francis  Whit- 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  155 

more,  and  of  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Edward  Winsliip.  Tlie  house  seems  to  have 
belonged  to  the  heirs  of  John  Green  in  1691.  In  1715  Nathaniel  Hill  was  living 
here.  He  removed  to  Sudbury  and  the  house  went  to  Nathaniel  Hancock  in 
1737,  He  was  a  shoemaker  and  had  been  the  owner  of  the  building  on  Boylston 
street,  later  the  last  Blue  Anchor  Tavern  and  "Bradish's."  Nathaniel  Hancock 
lived  here  until  his  death  in  1755.  He  had  many  children,  among  them  Prudence, 
who  married  Abraham  Hill  and  lived  on  the  corner  of  Brattle  and  Mason  streets; 
Mary,  who  married  John  Parker  and  for  her  second  husband  Francis  Whitmore, 
grandson  of  Isabel  Parks,  the  former  owner  of  the  estate;  the  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Hancock,  of  Tisbury,  H.  C.  1721;  Elizabeth,  who  married  John  Wyeth;  Belcher 
Hancock,  who  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1727  and  was  tutor  in  the  college, 
1742-1767,  and  also  fellow  for  seven  years.  He  died  unmarried  in  1771.  An  older 
son  of  Nathaniel,  Solomon  Hancock  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Rev.  Josiah 
Torrej%  of  Tisbury.  in  1730,  and  they  lived  here  with  his  father.  Solomon  served 
in  the  company  of  artillery  in  the  French  War  and  died  at  Lake  George  in  1756. 
Two  of  their  sons  were  minute  men  in  Captain  Thatcher's  company.  Belcher 
Hancock,  who  was  twenty-one  years  old,  was  corporal  at  that  time.  He  served 
through  the  war  and  was  captain  of  the  First  Massachusetts  Regiment  in  1780. 
Torrey  Hancock,  who  was  eight  years  older,  was  a  private  and  rose  to  be 
corporal;  he  was  guard  at  Winter  Hill  in  1778. 

The  next  occupant  was  Rev.  Caleb  Gannett,  born  at  Bridgewater  in  1745,  eld- 
est son  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Latham)  Gannett,  H.  C.  1763,  ordained  in  1767, 
pastor  at  Amherst  and  at  Cumberland,  Nova  Scotia,  and  returned  to  New 
England  in  1771,  He  was  appointed  tutor  in  mathematics  at  Harvard  in  1773, 
and  steward  of  the  college,  1779-1818.  In  April,  1781,  Mr.  Gannett  married 
Katherine  Wendell,  daughter  of  John  Mico  and  Katherine  (Brattle)  Wendell 
and  granddaughter  of  General  William  Brattle.  Soon  after  the  birth  of  his  eldest 
daughter,  Katherine,  in  1782,  he  moved  from  the  Brattle  house  to  this  house.  His 
four  other  children  by  his  first  wife  were  born  here,  and  in  1798  his  first  wife 
died.  In  1800,  he  married  Ruth,  daughter  of  President  Ezra  Stiles,  and  had  one 
child,  Rev.  Ezra  Stiles  Gannett,  of  Boston.  Rev.  Caleb  Gannett  died  in  1818, 
and  was  buried  with  his  two  wives  in  the  Brattle  tomb,  in  the  old  burying 
ground  on  Garden  street. 

The  house  had  a  lean-to  roof  on  the  north,  which  sloped  nearly  to  the  ground, 
and  the  late  John  Bartlett  liked  to  tell  of  a  visit  his  mother  made  to  the  Gan- 
netts  here.  She  was  a  great  belle,  and  one  morning  awoke  to  find  the  sloping 
roof,  beneath  which  she  slept,  had  been  covered  in  the  night  with  roses  by  the 
students,  her  admirers.    The  Gannett  estate  was  bought  by  the  college  in  1829. 

The  quaint  old  house  was  taken  down  and  its  place  occupied  by  the  railroad 
station  of  the  Harvard  branch  of  the  Fitchburg  Railroad,  the  one  and  only 
attempt  to  bring  Old  Cambridge  into  communication  with  Boston  by  steam.  It 
failed,  and  the  station  was  converted  by  the  college  into  commons,  the  students' 


156 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAIMBRIDGE 


eating  house.  Mr.  Nathaniel  Thayer  gave  money  to  enlarge  it,  ami  it  was 
called  Thayer  Commons,  and  occupied  until  Memorial  Hall  was  completed.  Our 
picture  shows  this  building  with  the  Richardson-Morse  house. 


LAMSON-FRANOIS-GAMAGE-RICHARDSON-MORSE    HOUSE 

(B  and  C56). 

The  last  house  in  the  row,  the  easterly  corner,  was  the  property  of  Barnabas 
or  Barnaby  Lamson,  selectman  in  1636,  who  died  about  1640,  leaving  his  five  chil- 
dren to  different  friends— "My  daughter  Mary  to  my  brother  Sparahak  (Spar- 
hawk);  to  my  brother  Isaak,  my  daughter  Sarah;  my  son  Barnaby  to  my  brother 
Parish;  my  daughter  Martha  to  my  brother  Stone;  my  son  .Joseph  to  my  brother 
Bridge."  Joseph  lived  with  Deacon  Bridge  and  may  have  been  the  father  of 
Mary  Lamson  who  married  James  Clark,  Jr.,  in  1703. 

Nathaniel  Sparhawk,  perhaps  as  executor  for  the  Lamson  children,  sold  the 
house  in  1644  to  Richard  Francis  and  Alice,  his  wife.  Richard  Francis  died  in 
1687,  aged  eighty-five  or  thereabouts,  and  is  called  by  Judge  Sewall  "an  ancient 
and  good  man  indeed."  His  son,  John,  married  Lydia,  daughter  of  Deacon  John 
Cooper  in  1688.  He  was  a  brickmaker  and  was  injured  when  the  new  college 
was  raised  in  1674,  by  a  piece  of  a  joist  falling  on  him.  He  and  his  brother, 
Stephen,  both  removed  to  Medford  about  1680. 

The  old  house  on  this  lot,  shown  in  the  illustration  next  to  the  round  roofed 
building,  the  railroad  station,  was  built  before  1717  by  Joshua  Gamage,  weaver, 
probably  in  1710,  when  he  married  Deborah  Wyeth,  daughter  of  William  Wyeth. 
He  lived  here  until  1737,  when  he  sold  to  Edmund  Goffe   and  moved  to  Attle- 

borough. 

In  1749,  Thaddeus  Mason  sold  this  house  to  Downing  Champney,  who  the 
same  year  sold  it  to  Moses  Richardson  for  702  pounds  old  tenor.    There  used  to 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  167 

be  a  little  brook  as  part  of  the  boundary  between  this  land  and   the  adjoining 
Fox-Hastiugs-Holmes  place,  probably  it  ran  into  the  "Pyne  Swamp." 

M.  I.  J.  G. 

Moses  Richardson  was  of  the  fifth  generation  of  the  Richardson  family  in 
America,  the  first  being  Ezekiel,  who  came  from  England  in  1630  with  Winthrop's 
fleet  and  settled  first  in  Charlestown  until  1641,  when  he  removed  to  what  was 
aften\-ards  called  Woburn,  where  he,  with  his  two  brothers  Samuel  and  Thomas 
(who  had  come  over  in  1636)  with  four  others  founded  the  town  of  Woburn  and 
organized  the  first  church.     His  will  was  proved  in  June,  1648. 

Theophilus,  eldest  son  of  Ezekiel,  married  Mary  Champney,  of  Cambridge,  in 
1654.  Ezekiel,  his  eldest  sou,  born  in  Woburn  in  1656,  married  Elizabeth  Swan, 
daughter  of  John  Swan,  of  Cambridge,  in  1687. 

Theophilus,  eldest  son  of  Ezekiel,  was  born  on  January  7,  1691,  married  in  Wa- 
tertown  on  April  24,  1711,  to  Ruth  Swan,  daughter  of  Gershom  Swan,  of  Meno- 
tomy.  After  his  death,  his  widow  married  Ebenezer  Parker,  of  Stoneham,  April 
26,  1726.  Moses  Richardson  was  the  youngest  child  of  this  Theophilus,  and  was 
born  in  Woburn,  April  8,  1722.  He  married  Mary  Prentiss  (born  October  19, 
1729)  daughter  of  Henry  and  Catharine  (Feleh)  Prentiss.  Mary  died  in 
Cambridge  on  March  12,  1812.  They  had  six  children,  probably  all  born  in  this 
house: 

Mary,  born  June  10,  1753,  married  William  Russell,  of  Boston; 
Moses,  born  September  10,  1755,  married  Sally  Clark,  of  Iloston,  in  1781; 
Katharine,  born  August  16,  1757,  married  James  Smith,  of  Cambridge; 
Elias,  born  September  27,  1760,  married  Mary  Rand,  of  Charlestown; 
Raham,  born  November  4,  1762,  married  Mary  Prentiss,  of  Cambridge; 
Elizabeth,   born  July   14,   1767,   married   the   Reverend   James   Bowers,   of  Bil- 
lerica. 

Moses  Richardson  lived  here  until  that  memorable  19th  of  April  when  he, 
with  Hicks  and  Marcy,  was  shot  by  the  Brittish.  One  of  his  daughters  in  after 
life  said:  "I  well  remember  the  night  my  father  was  called  up.  He  slept  in 
the  eastern  front  bedroom  facing  the  colleges.  It  was  about  one  o'clock  when  he 
marched  to  Lexington  and  he  was  killed  about  five  o'clock."  His  two  sons  iden- 
tified their  father's  body  the  following  morning,  when  he,  with  others,  who 
were  killed  with  him,  was  hastily  buried  in  a  trench  (place  now  marked  by  a 
tablet),  but  afterwards  the  remains  were  laid  in  the  old  burying  ground  on  Gar- 
den street,  where,  a  century  later,  1875-6,  Cambridge  erected  a  monument  to  the 
memory  of  these  men. 

Moses  Richardson  was  classed  with  the  strong-minded  men  of  his  time.  He 
was  an  excellent  mathematician,  being  a  surveyor  and  house-wright.  He  was 
also  college  carpenter  and  held  in  esteem  by  the  faculty.  Although  cut  off  so 
suddenly  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  he  had  taken  up  arms  before 
in  defence  of  his  country,  at  Quebec.    He  ranked  as  captain  on  General  Wolfe's 


158  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

staff  as  "chief  of  artificers,"  and  was  with  Wolfe  at  the  time  of  his  death  on 
the  "Plains  of  Abraham."  He  made  the  casket  in  which  the  remains  of  "Wolfe 
were  carried  to  England.  Wolfe's  family  sent  a  picture  of  the  general  to  each 
one  of  the  officers  on  his  staff.  The  one  sent  to  Moses  Richardson  has  been 
handed  down  from  son  to  son  of  succeeding  generations.  It  is  a  somewhat  singu- 
lar coincidence  that  eighty-eight  years,  almost  to  a  day,  after  the  19th  of  April 
1775,  one  of  the  great-grandsons  of  Moses  Richardson  marched  on  the  17th  of 
April  1S61,  to  the  seat  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  at  the  head  of  the  first  vol- 
unteer company  raised  in  the  United  States  for  that  war.  The  company  was 
raised  and  drilled  by  that  great-grandson  the  winter  before  the  war.  A  memo- 
rial bronze  tablet  is  in  the  city  hall  of  Cambridge  as  a  tribute  from  Cambridge 
to  this  company.  J.  L.  R.  B. 

The  house  was  sold  by  Raham  Richardson  to  Susan  and  Catharine  Morse  in 
1792,  but  one-half  was  to  be  occupied  by  his  mother,  Mary  (Prentiss)  Richard- 
son, until  her  death,  which  occurred  March  10,  1812.  For  many  years,  Royal 
Morse  lived  here,  a  man  of  much  prominence,  an  auctioneer.  He  it  was,  who, 
the  morning  after  the  burning  of  the  convent  in  Somerville,  went  from  house  to 
house  to  summon  the  citizens  to  act  as  guard  to  Harvard  College,  as  it  was 
feared  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Boston  might  burn  the  buildings  here  in  retalia- 
tion. Royal  Morse  lived  to  be  over  ninety  years  old,  and  was  a  fund  of  infor- 
mation in  regard  to  old  times  in  Cambridge,  which  he  and  his  neighbor,  Mr. 
John  Holmes,  would  talk  over  together.  The  house  was  occupied  by  students, 
and  many  families  lived  successively  in  the  west  half.  It  was  taken  down. in 
1888  to  make  room  for  the  law  school,  which  was  erected  just  behind  it. 

FOX-HOLMES  HOUSE, 

The  Holmes  house  stood  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Holmes  place.  Dr.  Oliver 
W.  Holmes  thus  describes  it:  "The  gambrel-roofed  house,  though  stately 
enough  for  college  dignitaries  and  scholarly  clergymen,  was  not  one  of  those 
Tory  Episcopal-church-goer's  strongholds.  The  honest  mansion  makes  no  pre- 
tensions. Accessible,  comfortable,  respectable,  and  even  in  its  way  dignified, 
but  not  imposing,  not  a  house  for  his  Majesty's  Counsellors,  or  the  Right  Rev- 
erend successor  of  Him  who  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head,  for  something  like 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  it  has  stood  in  its  lot,  and  seen  generations  of  men 
come  and  go  like  leaves  of  the  forest." 

The  property  was  first  owned  by  Barnabas  Lamson.  It  was  purchased  in  1639 
by  Nathaniel  Sparhawk,  and  afterwards  came  into  the  possession  of  Thomas 
Fox,  from  whom  it  passed  to  his  son,  Jabez  Foz.  Rev.  Jabez  Fox,  born  in  Con- 
cord in  1647,  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1665  and  married  Judith,  daughter  of 
Rev.  John  Reyner,  of  Plymouth,  N.  H.  In  1678,  he  was  invited  to  Woburn  to 
assist  Rev.  Thomas  Carter  for  one  year.    At  the  end  of  this  time,  they  voted  to 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  159 

call  him  "to  be  their  minister  for  his  lifetime."  He  died  in  Boston  on  February 
28,  1703,  and  was  buried  in  Woburn.  His  son,  John,  born  in  Cambridge  in  1678, 
graduated  from  Harvard  1698,  and  was  ordained  as  his  father's  successor  in 
1703.  After  the  death  of  his  brother,  Jaboz,  in  1736,  he  sold  the  estate  to  Jona- 
than Hastings,  Sr.,  by  deed  dated  October  24,  1737.  July  22,  1742,  Mr.  Hastings 
and  his  wife,  Sarah,  conveyed  the  property  to  their  sou,  Jonathan.  Jonathan 
Hastings,  Jr.,  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1730,  and  in  October,  1750,  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Rev.  John  Cotton,  of  Newton.  He  was  justice  of  the 
peace  and  steward  of  Harvard  College  nearly  thirty  years,  an  ardent  patriot  in 
the  war  of  the  Revolution.  His  house  was  the  headquarters  of  General  Ward  in 
the  early  part  of  1775.  Prom  this  house,  on  the  17th  of  June,  1775,  Gen.  Joseph 
Warren  went  to  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

Jonathan,  son  of  Jonathan,  Jr.,  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1768,  and  was 
appointed  postmaster  in  1775.  He  married  Christina  Wainwright  November  24, 
1780,  and  in  April,  1792,  they  conveyed  the  estate  to  Eliphalet  Pearson.  John 
Hastings,  a  brother  of  Jonathan,  married  Lydia  Dana,  daughter  of  Richard 
Dana,  and  sister  of  Chief  Justice  Dana,  December  7,  1783.  He  graduated  from 
Harvard  in  1772,  was  Major  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  lived  for  a  time  at 
the  homestead,  where  some  of  his  children  were  born.  Another  brother,  Dr. 
Walter  Hastings,  Harvard,  1771,  was  a  surgeon  in  the  continental  army.  Rev. 
Eliphalet  Pearson  was  professor  of  Hebrew  and  other  Oriental  languages  twenty 
years,  1786-1806;  he  then  resigned  and  went  to  Andover,  where  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  Sacred  Literature  in  the  theological  seminary.  Professor  Pearson  sold 
the  place  to  Oliver  Wendell,  March  25,  1807.  It  was  then  said  to  contain  five 
acres  of  land  and  the  price  paid  was  $7,000.  Hon.  Oliver  Wendell,  judge  of 
the  probate  court  and  member  of  the  corporation  of  the  university,  1788-1812, 
lived  here  in  retirement  until  his  death,  at  the  age  of  84  years,  in  1812. 

Rev.  Abiel  Holmes  was  minister  of  the  First  Parish  Church  for  nearly  forty 
years,  and  was  widely  known  as  the  author  of  "American  Annals,"  and  the 
"History  of  Cambridge."  He  married  the  only  daughter  of  Judge  Wendell,  and 
moved  to  the  home  of  his  father-in-law,  with  whom  they  lived  until  the  death  of 
the  latter,  when  it  became  the  property  of  Mrs.  Holmes. 

Of  such  a  father  and  mother  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  was  born,  in  the  old  gam- 
brel-roofed  house,  August  29,  1809.  He  says:  "It  was  a  great  happiness  to  have 
been  born  in  an  old  house,  haunted  by  such  recollections,  with  harmless  ghosts 
walking  its  corridors,  and  that  vast  territory  of  four  or  five  acres  around  it,  to 
give  a  child  the  sense  that  he  was  born  to  a  noble  principality.  I  should  hardly 
be  quite  happy  if  I  could  not  recall,  at  will,  the  old  house  with  the  long  entry 
and  the  white  chamber,  where  I  wrote  the  first  verses  that  made  me  known  ('Old 
Ironsides')  and  the  little  parlor,  and  the  study,  and  the  old  books,  in  uniforms 
as  varied  as  those  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company  used  to  be, 
and  the  front  yard  with  the  stars  of  Bethlehem,  and  the  dear  faces  to  be  seen 
no  more  there  or  anywhere  on  this  earthly  place  of  farewells." 


160  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

John  Holmes,  brother  of  Oliver,  born  in  1812,  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1832, 
lived  in  the  old  house  until  the  death  of  his  mother,  when  it  was  sold  to  the 
college.  It  was  then  occupied  by  Professor  William  Everett  and  others  until  it 
was  torn  down  in  1883,  when  Austin  Hall,  the  present  law  school,  was  built. 

I.  S.  W. 

The  land  on  the  corner  of  Holmes  place  and  the  present  Kirkland  street  was 
the  first  lot  given  by  the  town  of  Newtowne  to  Harvard  College,  but  it  was  later 
exchanged  for  a  lot,  now  in  the  college  yard,  where  the  first  college  building  was 
erected.  The  Hemenway  Gymnasium  now  occupies  the  site.  From  1845  till  1866 
the  Old  Cambridge  Baptist  Church  stood  here.  It  was  moved  to  the  corner  of 
Massachusetts  avenue  and  Roseland  street.  The  building  next  to  it  is  the  Law- 
rence Scientific  School,  built  in  1848.  The  first  house  on  Kirkland  street.  No.  7, 
was  built  by  tlie  friends  of  Stephen  Hlgginson,  Jr.  (a  merchant  of  Salem,  who 
had  suffered  great  losses  from  the  embargo  during  the  war  of  1812),  when  he 
succeeded,  on  the  death  of  Rev.  6aleb  Gannett,  to  the  stewardship  of  Harvard 
College.  Mr.  Higginson  was  very  active  in  town  and  college  affairs  and  greatly 
interested  in  the  building  of  the  divinity  school  and  in  the  young  men  who 
studied  there.  He  died  in  1827.  In  the  poem  given  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Society  in  1904,  his  famous  son.  Colonel  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  told  how 
his  father  placed  a  lamp  before  each  professor's  door,  and  planted  trees  in  the 
college  yard.  He  was  greatly  admired  and  respected  and,  as  a  tribute  of  admi- 
ration, a  portrait  of  the  Man  of  Ross  was  one  day  left  anonymously  at  his  door. 
Here,  December  20,  1826,  his  son  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson  was  born,  one 
who  has  always  had  the  interests  of  his  native  town  at  heart,  and  from  whose 
writings  we  can  learn  what  Camibridge  was  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Mrs.  Higginson  sold  the  house  to  Charles  Chauncy  Foster,  in  1836.  Mr. 
Foster,  who  was  a  brother  of  Bossinger  and  Joseph  Foster,  lived  here  until  his 
death  in  1875,  at  the  age  of  91.  His  grandson,  Charles  Foster  Batchelder,  owns 
and  occupies  the  house. 

PHILLIPS-DANFORTH-FOXCROFT   HOUSE. 

The  land  on  which  the  Higginson  house  stands  was  called  the  old  ox-pasture 
and  was  probably  part  of  the  lot  granted  to  the  Rev.  John  Phillips,  who  came  to 
Salem  from  England  in  1638.  He  was  invited  to  come  here  to  be  teacher  of  the 
First  Church,  under  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  in  1639.  He  came  from  Wrentham, 
about  thirty  miles  northeast  of  Ipswich,  England,  and  had  married  Elizabeth 
Ames,  sister  of  the  famous  Dr.  Ames,  the  Puritan  minister.  Several  entries  in 
the  church  record  prove  that  Mr.  Phillips  actually  came  to  Cambridge;  and 
Paige,  in  his  History  of  Cambridge,  says  that  he  built  this  house,  but  he  did  not 
remain,  for  he  settled  in  Dedham  in  1640;  there,  however,  he  did  not  stay  long, 
for  on  October  26,  1641,  he  sailed  for  England,  where  he  was  later  minister  of 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  161 

Wrenthain,   England,   "and   is   supposed  to  have  been  a  member  of  the  West- 
minster Assembly  of  Divines." 

In  1652,  Thomas  Danforth  sold  the  homestead  on  the  northerly  side  of  Bow 
street,  near  Mt.  Auburn  street,  inherited  from  his  father,  Nicholas  Danforth, 
which  he  had  occupied  till  this  time,  and  removed  to  the  northerly  side  of  "The 
Path  from  Charlestown  to  Watertown,"  as  Kirkland  street  was  then  called. 
(It  was  the  connecting  highway  between  these  two  towns,  both  a  little  older 
than  Cambridge.)  The  name  Kirkland  was  not  given  to  the  street  until  about 
1830,  when  it  was  so  called  after  the  late  John  T.  Kirkland,  president  of  Har- 
vard College.  The  exact  site  of  Thomas  Danforth's  house  cannot  be  determined, 
.but  it  probably  stood  near  the  intersection  of  Kirkland  and  Oxford  streets,  a 
little  west  of  the  latter,  for  recently  the  foundations  of  two  buildings  have  been 
discovered  here;  one  about  eight  feet  seven  with  a  brick  floor  and  a  chimney  in 
the  corner;  the  other  foundation  of  stones  loosely  laid  together  a  little  distance 
from  the  first,  and  indicating  a  larger  building,  seems  like  that  of  a  shed,  or 
other  outbuilding  of  the  house,  supposed  to  have  stood  just  west  of  the  present 
house  of  Professor  F.  G.  Peabody.  Behind  these  foundations  was  found  what 
was  evidently  a  rubbish  heap,  from  which  a  trivet,  key,  broken  door  handles  and 
many  other  things  have  been  taken.  About  the  house  were  one  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  of  land,  extending  from  the  estates  of  Dr.  Holmes  and  Nathaniel 
Jarvis  to  the  Charlestown  or  Somerville  line,  together  with  about  the  same  quan- 
tity on  the  southerly  side  of  Kirkland  street,  extending  across  Cambridge  street 
to  Dana  Hill  and  including  the  northerly  part  of  the  college  grounds  and  the 
Delta. 

One  of  the  most  useful  citizens  in  the  town  and  in  the  colony,  Thomas  Dan- 
forth held  many  oflSces  of  trust  and  retained  each  a  long  term  of  years.  As 
early  as  1644,  when  he  was  but  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  was  chosen  with 
"several  men  to  enter  the  elenation  of  lands."  In  1651,  he  was  chosen  one  of 
three  commissioners  "to  settle  small  causes,"  and  in  1653  he  was  appointed, 
with  two  others,  to  "lay  out  all  necessary  high  waies  on  the  south  side  of  the 
water"  (Charles  river).  He  is  best  known,  however,  as  deputy  governor,  an 
office  he  held  twenty  years.  "He  was  confessedly  the  leader  of  his  party  in  the 
opposition  to  the  arbitrary  proceedings  of  the  King  and  his  Counsellors."  He 
married  Mary  Witliington,  of  Dorchester,  and  they  had  many  children,  but  at 
the  death  of  Deputy  Governor  Danforth  in  1699,  his  daughter,  Elizabeth,  was  the 
only  one  living.  In  1682  she  had  married  Francis  Foxcroft,  and  to  her  he  "be- 
queathed his  homestead  and  land,  if  he  died  without  other  issue."  They,  with 
their  six  children,  removed  from  Boston  to  Cambridge,  and  lived  in  the  home- 
stead the  remainder  of  their  lives.  Deputy  Governor  Danforth  also  "desired  in 
his  will  that  the  negro  man,  Philip  ffeild  should  serve  Mr.  Foxcroft  four 
years,  and  then  be  a  free  man,  and  have  ten  pounds  in  money,  and  forty  acres 
of  land  in  Cambridge  ffarmes." 

11 


162  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

Like  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Foxcroft  held  many  public  offices,  and  was  justice 
of  the  peace  under  Andros.  It  was  upon  his  warrant  that  Winslow  was  com- 
mitted to  prison  for  announcing  the  revolution  in  England,  After  a  few  days' 
imprisonment  Mr.  Foxcroft  exchanged  places  with  Winslow  and  became  a  pris- 
oner with  Andros  and  his  adherents.  "But  he  could  not  have  been  obnoxious  to 
the  new  government,  for  it  was  ordered  that  Mr.  Francis  Foxcroft  be  released 
from  his  imprisonment  and  be  confined  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Thomas  Danforth 
in  Cambridge  one  week's  time,  and  that  then  he  be  set  at  liberty,  unless  any- 
thing appeared  to  be  objected  against  him  in  the  meantime."  Mr.  Foxcroft  is 
described  as  "a  gentleman  by  birth  and  education,  of  a.  wealthy  family  in  the 
north  of  England.  He  was  bred  a  merchant  and  was  expert  and  skilful,  as  well 
as  just  and  upright  in  all  his  business."  He  had  an  uncontrollable  temper, 
owing  to  severe  attacks  of  the  gout,  "but  this  was  his  burden  and  lamentation." 

At  his  death,  in  1727,  Mr.  Foxcroft  owned  land  in  England.  In  order  to  dis- 
pose of  it,  the  consent  of  the  archbishop  of  York  had  to  be  obtained.  His  eldest 
son,  Daniel,  having  died  in  England,  in  1741,  his  estate  passed  to  his  second 
son,  Francis  Foxcroft,  who  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1712,  and  in 
1722  had  married  Mehitable  Coney,  of  Boston.  Following  in  the  footsteps  of  his 
father,  he  spent  much  of  his  life  in  public  service,  filling  many  offices  of  trust, 
and  serving  as  registrar  of  deeds  forty-four  years.  He  was,  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  "the  oldest  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Quorum  through  the  Province.  He 
was  first  Justice  of  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  and  inferior 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  the  county  where  he  lived,  27  years,"  till  by  reason 
of  bodily  infirmities  and  great  "scrupulosity  and  tenderness  of  conscience,"  he 
resigned  his  seat  on  the  Bench.  Judge  Foxcroft  remained  in  the  paternal  man- 
sion till  his  death  in  1768,  and  in  his  will  expressed  the  desire  that  the  estate 
should  be  retained  by  his  son,  John,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  1758,  who 
married  Sarah  Deane  (?).  Of  her  it  is  recorded  that,  July  2,  1802,  she  fell  from 
a  chair  and  instantly  expired,  leaving  no  issue. 

Mr.  John  Foxcroft  had  been  registrar  of  deeds  ten  years  when,  being  suspected 
of  hostility  to  the  government,  probably  with  good  reason,  during  the  revolution, 
he  lost  office,  and  retired  to  his  house,  where  he  passed  his  time  "in  luxurious 
ease,  which  seemed  more  congenial  to  his  natural  disposition  than  active  em- 
ployment." In  compliance  with  the  wish  expressed  in  his  father's  will,  "he 
obtained  possession  of  the  homestead  by  the  purchase  of  the  rights  of  the  other 
heirs,  and  probably  lived  here  until  the  house  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1777." 
In  1773,  he  bought  the  John  Hicks  house  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Dunster 
and  Winthrop  streets,  where  he  probably  resided  until  his  death  in  1802.  He 
being  the  last  of  the  family  in  Cambridge,  his  heirs,  who  resided  in  Essex  and 
Worcester  counties,  sold  the  estate  "and  the  noble  farm  of  the  Danforths  and 
Foxcrofts  was  cut  up  into  fragments."  The  largest  individual  portion  of  it 
which  remains  is  the  valuable  estate  of  Professor  Norton. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  163 

The  New  Lecture  Hall  has  been  recently  erected  by  the  college,  very  near  the 
site  of  the  old  Danforth  house.  To  accommodate  this  building,  the  wooden 
house,  built  early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  known  as  "Foxcroft  House,"  was 
moved  around  on  to  Oxford  street.  It  became  the  property  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity in  1889.  By  the  request  of  Miss  Mary  U.  TJpham,  from  whom  it  was 
bought,  this  name  was  given  to  it.  It  was  occupied  for  some  years  by  Pro- 
fessor Asahel  Stearns.  Much  of  the  time  since  then  it  has  been  used  as  a 
boarding-house.  President  C.  C.  Felton  roomed  here  and  it  was  the  first  Cam- 
bridge home  of  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow.  L.  P.  S. 

During  the  nineteenth  century,  Kirkland  street  went  by  the  name  of  "Pro- 
fessors' Row."  The  houses  on  the  north  side  from  Mr.  Higginson's  were  in 
order  as  follows:  Professors  James  Hay  ward,  Asahel  Stearns,  John  Farrar,  and 
Henry  Ware,  the  last  house  on  the  west  corner  of  Divinity  avenue. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  street  was  the  college  playground,  the  "Delta,"  so 
called  from  its  shape  being  that  of  the  Greek  letter,  bounded  by  Kirkland,  Cam- 
bridge and  Quincy  streets.  Here  the  football  games  took  place.  October  6,  1870, 
the  corner  stone  of  Memorial  Hall,  which  now  stands  here,  was  laid.  It  was 
built  from  the  designs  of  William  Robert  Ware,  H.  C.  1852,  and  Henry  Van 
Brunt,  H.  C.  1854.  It  is  305  feet  long,  113  feet  wide  and  the  tower  is  190  feet 
high.  The  principal  entrances,  on  the  north  and  south,  lead  into  the  memorial 
transept,  or  portico,  which  is  lined  on  both  sides  with  tablets  giving  the  names 
of  Harvard's  sons  killed  on  the  Union  side  in  the  civil  war,  1861-1865.  From 
this  portico,  to  the  east,  doors  open  into  Sanders  Theatre,  the  auditorium,  where 
the  commencement  exercises  of  the  college  take  place.  On  the  west  of  the 
portico,  doors  open  into  the  great  dining  hall.  The  walls  of  this  hall  are  hung 
with  portraits  of  Harvard's  famous  sons  and  benefactors,  by  Smibert,  Copley, 
Trumbull  and  later  artists.  The  stained  glass  windows  are  the  gifts  of  differ- 
ent classes  in  memory  of  their  members.  At  the  west  end,  in  front  of  the  build- 
ing, is  a  seated  statue  of  John  Harvard,  by  Daniel  C.  French,  the  gift  of  Samuel 
James  Bridge  in  1884.  No  likeness  of  Harvard  is  known  to  exist,  and  it  is  said 
the  face  of  this  statue  was  modelled  from  Sherman,  nephew  of  Judge  Hoar  of 
Concord. 

Opposite  Sanders  Theatre,  on  the  corner  of  Quincy  and  Kirkland  streets, 
stands  the  Swedenborgian  chapel  and  near  it  the  house  of  the  pastor.  This  was 
formerly  the  house  of  Rev.  Jared  Sparks,  historian,  editor  of  the  "Diplomatic 
Correspondence  of  the  American  Generals  of  the  Revolution,"  and  of  the  "Writ- 
ings of  George  Washington."  He  was  professor  of  history  at  Harvard,  1838-1849, 
and  President  from  that  year  until  1S53.    He  died  here  in  1866. 

On  the  corner  of  Divinity  avenue  and  Kirkland  street  is  Randall  Hall,  another 
refectory  owned  by  the  college;  other  college  buildings  now  standing  on  the 
Danforth-Foxcroft  land,  besides  those  already  mentioned,  are  the  Peabody  Ar- 
chaeological and  Ethnological  Museum,  built  in  1877,  the  Agassiz  Museum  of 
Comparative   Zoology,   built   1860-1880,   which    forms    a   part    of  the   University 


164  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

Museum  where  the  glass  flowers  are,  the  Semitic  Museum,  and  the  Divinity 
school,  1826,  all  reached  from  Divinity  avenue.  On  the  other  side  of  Memorial 
Hall,  between  Cambridge  and  Quincy  streets  and  Broadway,  is  the  old  Gym- 
nasium, now  used  as  temporary  quarters  for  the  Germanic  collection  and  the 
gifts  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany. 

PHILLIPS-WARE-NORTON  HOUSE. 

At  the  further  boundary  of  the  estate  lies  "Shady  Hill,"  in  Norton's  Woods, 
accessible  from  Irving  street,  of  which  we  give  an  illustration,  the  house 
now  occupied  by  Professor  Charles  Eliot  Norton.  Tlie  land  was  bought  by 
John  Phillips,  the  first  mayor  of  Boston,  and  the  house  was  built  by  him  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  son  of  William  Phillips  and  his 
wife  Margaret  Wendell,  daughter  of  Hon.  Jacob  Wendell,  merchant  and  mem- 
ber of  the  governor's  council,  John  Phillips,  was  born  in  Boston  in  1770,  and 
brought  up  by  his  kinsman  Lieutenant-Governor  Samuel  Phillips  of  Andover. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  and  in  1794  married  Sarah  Walley,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Walley,  merchant  of  Boston,  and  their  eighth  child  born  in  1811,  after 
they  had  left  Cambridge,  was  the  famous  Wendell  Phillips. 

The  next  occupant  of  the  house  was  Professor  Heni-y  Ware,  of  Harvard,  1785, 
•who  was  pi-ofessor  of  theology  at  Harvard,  1805-1840,  and  emeritus  professor 
until  1845.  From  him  it  went  in  1821  to  Professor  Andrews  Norton,  Harvard, 
1804.  He  died  in  1853.  The  house  is  still  occupied  by  his  son,  Professor  Charles 
Eliot  Norton,  who  was  born  here.  M.  I.  J.  G. 

DANA    HOUSE. 

In  early  times  all  that  part  of  Cambridge  east  of  Quincy  and  Bow  streets, 
extending  through  what  is  now  Cambrldgeport,  was  called  "The  Neck."  It 
consisted  ot  pastures,  woodland,  swamps  and  salt  marsh  and  was  used  only 
for  cultivation.  The  part  from  Quincy  square  to  Dana  street  was  called  "the 
Old  Field,"  originally  "the  Planting  Field,"  and  next  further  east  came 
"Small  Lot  Hill."  These  were  divided  into  narrow  lots  and  the  part  east  of 
these,  some  of  it  bordering  on  the  marsh,  was  divided  into  large  lots.  Grad- 
ually they  passed  into  fewer  hands  until  at  length  most  of  it  was  embraced 
in  three  farms. 

Paige,  in  the  "History  of  Cambridge,"  says  that  the  Old  Field  early  became 
the  property  of  Edward  Goffe  and  John  Gay,  and  that,  later,  the  larger  por- 
tion became  vested  in  Chief  Justice  Francis  Dana,  who  subsequently  purchased 
"Small  Lot  Hill"  and  several  other  lots  on  both  sides  of  what  is  now  Massa- 
chusetts avenue,  then  called  the  "road  into  the  Neck,"  afterward,  Main  street, 
and  that  on  that  road  he  erected  a  spacious  mansion  to  the  west  of  "the  high- 
way to  the  common  pales"  now  called  Dana  street. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  165 

Edward  Goffe,  who  arrived  in  Cambridge  in  1635,  was  an  ancestor  of 
Francis  Dana,  through  the  latter's  mother,  Lydia  Trowbridge,  whose  mothex-was 
Mary  Goffe.  Paige  says  that  Goffe  was  "a  large  landholder  and  one  of  the 
most  wealthy  men  in  the  town.  His  homestead  contained  thirty-two  acres, 
bounded  southerly  on  the  old  road  into  the  Neck,  easterly  on  land  of 
Joseph  Cooke,  near  the  present  Ellery  street,  northerly  on  the  Danforth  estate, 
near  Broadway,  and  westerly  on  the  parsonage.  His  dwelling  house  stood 
at  the  southwest  corner  of  his  farm  very  near  the  junction  of  Massachusetts 
avenue  and  Harvard  street,"  probably  the  site  of  Beck  Hall.  The  Harvard 
Union  stands  on  what  was  the  old  garden. 

The  estate  descended  to  his  son,  Samuel  Goffe,  who  signed  and  sealed 
with  his  coat  of  arms  the  parchment  deed  of  1696,  still  in  the  possession 
of  the  Dana  family,  by  which  he  granted  it  to  his  son,  Colonel  Edmund  Goffe, 
after  whose  death  it  was  bought  by  Richard  Dana,  father  of  Francis.  On 
the  division  of  Richard  Dana's  estate,  in  1779,  the  land  on  both  sides  of  what 
is  now  Quincy  street,  extending  from  Broadway  to  Massachusetts  avenue, 
near  Remington  street,  went  to  his  eldest  sou,  Rev.  Edmund  Dana,  of  Slirew.s- 
bury,  England,  whose  heirs  soon  sold  it.  The  rest,  bordering  on  Massachusetts 
avenue,  nearly  to  Dana  street,  and  extending  through  to  Broadway,  was 
the  share  of  the  younger  son,  Francis. 

Francis  Dana,  born  June  13,  1743,  was  great-grandson  of  the  immigrant 
Richard  Dana,  who  came  to  Cambridge  about  1640.  His  grandfather,  Daniel 
Dana,  was  one  of  a  committee  appointed  in  Cambridge  in  1736,  consisting,  as 
says  Rev.  Abiel  Holmes,  "of  wise,  prudent  and  blameless  Christians,  a  kind  of 
privy  council  to  the  minister"  (Rev.  Nathaniel  Appleton).  His  gravestone  is 
still  to  be  seen  in  the  old  burial  ground  in  Harvard  square.  Daniel  was 
the  father  of  the  second  Richard  Dana,  born  in  Cambridge,  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1718,  and  resided  in  Boston  "an  eminent  lawyer  and  ardent  patriot," 
of  whom  John  Adams  said  that,  had  he  not  been  cut  off  by  death,  he  would 
have  furnished  one  of  the  immortal  names  of  the  Revolution.  His  son, 
Francis  Dana,  although  born  in  Charlestown  and  brought  up  in  Boston,  where  he 
was  educated  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  soon  came  to 
Cambridge  to  college  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1762,  after  which  he 
studied  law  here  five  years  with  his  uncle,  Judge  Trowbridge,  "the  luminary 
of  the  common  law,"  as  he  has  been  called,  with  whom  Chief  Justice  Parsons, 
Christopher  Gore,  Royall  Tyler,  Rufus  King,  Harrison  Gray  Otis  and  other 
distinguished  men  also  studied  law.  From  that  time  on,  he  seems  to  have 
lived  in  Cambridge,  though  belonging  to  the  Sons  of  Liberty  and  to  a  Boston 
club,  in  which  "Lowell,  Dana,  Quincy  and  other  young  fellows,"  says  John 
Adams,  "were  not  ill  employed  in  discussions  of  the  right  of  taxation." 

No  doubt  it  was  at  the  house  of  Judge  Trowbridge  that  Francis  Dana  met 
his   future   wife,    Elizabeth   Ellery,   of   Newport,    R.    I.,    daughter   of   William 


166  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

Ellery,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  for  her  mother 
and  Mrs.  Trowbridge  were  sisters,  daughters  of  Judge  Jonathan  Remington, 
of  Cambridge.  He  married  her  on  August  5,  1773,  and  made  his  home  for  soma 
years  with  the  Trowbridges.  He  had  come  to  the  bar  in  1767,  at  the  height 
of  the  civil  struggle  and  was  specially  engaged  in  causes  involving  civil  and 
political  rights,  was  one  of  the  counsel  in  the  celebrated  Lechmere  slave 
case,  and,  though  one  of  the  youngest  of  the  bar,  opposed  the  complimentary 
address  which  that  body  presented  to  Governor  Hutchinson,  on  his  departure 
for  England. 

In  April,  1774,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  he  sailed  for  England,  taking  confi- 
dential letters  to  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  remained  there  for  two  years,  rep- 
resenting the  Massachusetts  patriots.  His  eldest  brother,  Edmund, 
Dana,  had  settled  in  England,  was  a  clergyman  of  the  English  Church,  and  had 
married  a  daughter  of  Lord  Kinnaird,  niece  of  Sir  William  Johnstone  (whose 
wife  was  cousin  and  heiress  of  the  Earl  of  Bath),  long  a  member  of  Parlia- 
ment and  one  of  the  richest  subjects  of  Great  Britain.  Tlirough  them  and 
their  connections,  Francis  Dana  had  good  opportunities  of  ascertaining  the 
state  of  feeling  in  Eligland  and  the  probable  measures  of  the  government. 

"The  Diary  of  Dorothy  Dudley"  describes  a  meeting  of  many  Cambridge 
families  at  Mr.  Dana's  house  on  Butler  Hill,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775,  and 
the  good  pastor.  Dr.  Appleton,  comforting  and  praying  for  them.  As  Mr. 
Dana  was  in  England  at  the  time  and  his  house  not  built  for  some  ten  yeara 
after,  this  is  a  slight  anachronism.  Mr.  Dana  returned  In  April,  1776,  bringing 
a  report  that  there  was  no  hope  of  an  adjustment  with  England  on  any  terms 
which  tlie  colonists  could  accept.  A  letter  from  John  Adams,  introducing  him 
to  General  Washington,  says  that  "he  is  a  gentleman  of  family,  fortune  and 
education,  who  has  just  returned  to  his  country  to  share  with  his  friends  in 
their  dangers  and  triumphs.  He  will  satisfy  you  that  we  have  no  reason 
to  expect  peace  from  Britain." 

In  May,  1776,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Council, 
and  so  continued  until  1780.  In  November,  1776,  he  was  chosen  dele- 
gate to  the  Continental  Congress,*  and  held  several  important  posts, 
was  on  the  board  of  war,  and  later  on  the  board  of 
treasury,  and,  in  1778,  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation. He  was  chairman  of  a  committee  to  reorganize  the  continental 
army,  and  also,  in  January,  1778,  chairman  of  a  committee  to  visit  Valley 
Forge,  where  he  remained  several  months  with  Washington  and  the  army. 
The  same  year,  he  was  appointed  with  Gouverneur  Morris  and  Drayton  to 
consider  the  Conciliatory  Bills,  and  on  the  adverse  report  of  this  committee, 

*For  his  ride  to  confjress  in  1777  with  William  Ellery,  see  "A  Revolutionary 
Congressman  on  Horseback,"  "Travellers  and  Outlaws,"  by  T.  W.  Higginson. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  167 

Lord  North's  proposals  were  rejected  by  Congress.  About  this  time,  the  Amer- 
ican Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  was  founded  in  Boston,  and  Dana  was  one 
of  the  founders  and  charter  members. 

In  1779,  the  king  of  Spain  offered  to  mediate  between  Great  Britain  and  her 
rebellious  colonies,  and  congress  appointed  a  special  embassy  to  Paris,  John 
Adams  to  be  minister  plenipotentiary  and  Francis  Dana  secretary  of  leg-ation. 

Wlien  this  came  to  nothing  Adams,  and  afterwards  Dana,  went  to 
Holland,  jointly  charged  by  congress  with  raising  loans  in  Europe. 
Soon  after,  Dana  was  appointed  minister  to  Russia  and  arrived  at  the  court 
of  the  Empress  Catherine  in  the  summer  of  17S1,  taking  with  him  young  John 
Quincy  Adams,  as  his  secretary.  At  the  end  of  two  years,  Dana,  who  had  been 
absent  from  his  wife  and  family  over  six  years,  resigned  his  position,  having 
remained  until  he  had  succeeded  in  the  main  object  of  his  mission,  and  until 
the  preliminaries  of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  had 
begun.  During  part,  at  least,  of  his  first  absence,  his  wife  and  child  had  lived 
with  her  uncle  and  aunt,  Judge  and  Mrs.  Trowbridge,  in  Cambridge.  During 
his  second  absence  with  Adams,  whose  wife  had  also  been  left  behind,  Abigail 
Adams  writes  to  her  husband,  July  15,  1780:  "Present  my  compliments  to  Mr. 
Dana.  Tell  him  I  have  called  upon  his  lady  and  we  enjoyed  an  afternoon  of 
sweet  communion.  I  find  she  would  not  be  averse  to  taking  a  voyage,  should 
he  be  continued  abroad.  She  groaned  most  bitterly  and  is  irreconcilable  to 
his  absence.    I  am  a  mere  philosopher  to  her." 

On  Dana's  return  to  America,  in  December,  1783,  he  was  again  appointed  a 
delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress.  The  next  summer,  during  the  recess  of 
congress,  and  while  there  was  no  president,  an  executive  committee  was 
appointed,  clothed  with  very  considerable  porwers.  Of  this  "Committee  ot 
States"  Dana  was  the  member  from  Massachusetts.  The  next  year,  1785,  he 
was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  supreme  bench  of  Massachusetts,  by  Governor 
Hancock.  It  was  at  the  time  of  his  resignation  from  congress  and  return 
to  Cambridge  that  he  built  his  house  on  what  has  since  been  called  Dana  Hill. 
In  1787,  appointed  a  delegate  to  the  convention  for  framing  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  he  declined  on  account  of  his  judicial  duties,  but  in 
1788,  he  was   a  member  of  the  convention  that  ratified  the  constitution. 

In  1796,  President  Adams  appointed  Dana  on  a  special  embassy  to  France, 
■with  Pinckney  and  Marshall,  which  he  declined.  In  November,  1791,  he  was 
made  chief  justice  of  Massachusetts,  and  during  the  fifteen  years  that  he 
held  this  post  he  took  no  active  part  in  politics,  beyond  being  three  times 
presidential  elector.  After  the  Revolution  there  was  a  popular  wave  in  favor 
of  repudiation  of  debts,  both  public  and  private,  especially  when  due  to 
foreigners  or  Tories.  Dana  threw  himself,  heart  and  soul,  in  favor  of  honest 
payment,  and  by  his  efforts  brought  about  payment  in  full  of  the  loans  to  the 


168  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

government,  which  he  had  been  instrumental  in  securing.  In  1801,  the  town 
of  Dana,  in  Worcester  county,  was  named  for  him.  In  1806,  he  resigned  the 
chief  justiceship  and  the  next  year  his    wife    died.  FYancis    Dana    died, 

at  his  home  in  Cambridge,  April  25,  1811,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven.  President 
John  Adams  was  a  pall-bearer  at  his  funeral.  He  was  buried  in  the  Trow- 
bridge-Dana  tomb  in  the  old  burial-ground  in  Harvard  square.  The  memorial 
tablet  in  Christ  Church,  sometimes  thought  to  be  his,  is  that  of  his  grandson 
who  bore  the  same  name,  Francis  Dana,  M.D.  Sullivan,  in  his  "Familiar 
Letters  on  Public  Characters,"  says  of  Judge  Dana  that  he  was  "an  able  law- 
yer, and  was  a  very  direct,  clear,  forcible  speaker,  but  his  manner  on  tli^e 
bench  was  severe.  In  winter,  he  wore  a  white  corduroy  surtout  lined  with 
fur,  and  a  large  muff,   probably  Russian   acquisitions." 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  the  only  house  in  what  is  now  Cambridgeport 
was  that  of  Ralph  Inman,  with  the  exception  of  a  house,  just  west  of  the 
"highway  to  the  common  pales"  (Dana  street),  which  Judge  Edmund  Trow- 
bridge bought,  with  five  acres  of  land  from  Sarah  Gay,  widow  of  John  Gay, 
April  17,  1754,  probably  part  of  the  same  land  that  Cay  bought  of  Joseph 
Cooke,  March  4,  1734.  This  lot,  which  adjoined  the  Goffe  land,  inherited  from 
his  father,  Richard  Dana,  Francis  Dana  bought  of  Judge  Trowbridge,  January 
21,  1785,  and  the  same  year  built  upon  it  the  house  referred  to  by  Paige,  and 
shown  in  the  illustration,  and  was  living  there  in  March,  1786,  according  to  the 
diary  of  John  Quincy  Adams. 

In  1789,  Dana  bought  from  Judge  Trowbridge  several  acres  on  the  south  side 
of  Massachusetts  avenue  which  had  been  Aaron  Bordman's,  commonly  called 
the  "Long  Pasture"   (sold   to  Edmund  Goile  in  1715   and   by   Goile  conveyed   to 
Trowbridge  in   1736).     Here  Judge   Dana   had   his   vegetable  garden,   and   here, 
in   1857,   Henry   O.    Houghton   built  the   house   he   long   lived    in,   now   occupied 
by  the  Cambridge  School  for  Nursing.    In  1793,  Judge  Trowbridge  died,  leaving 
his  estate  to  Francis  Dana,  to  which  the  latter  added  more  by  purchase— Fort 
Washington  and   the  fort   on   Putnam   avenue    were   botli   on  his   land.     Streets 
laid    out   on   his    estate    and    named    for   him    and   his    connections    are:      Rem- 
ington,    Trowbridge,     Ellery,     Dana,    Kinnaird,     and     Allston.       In     a     letter 
dated      Febrnary     8,      1792,      Dana,     writing     to     Governor      Shirley's      grand- 
daughter,  Mrs.   Frances   (Bollan)   Western,   in  England,   says:    "Judge   Trow- 
bridge   is   still    living    in    his    old    habitation    and    has    lately    entered    upon    his 
83rd   year.    We  have   not   lived   with   him  for  more   than   six  years,   but   are 
seated    upon    the    elevated    ground,    between  Colo.  Phipps's  and  Inman's    houses, 
where  I  have  built  a  very  convenient  house,  which  commands  the  most  ex- 
tensive and  variegated  prospect  of  any  one  in  Town,  or  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Capital."    That  he  appreciated  this  view  is  shown  by  a  stipulation  made  in  an 
agreement  with  Leonard  Jarvis,  in  1797,  that  Jarvis  should  "forever  hereafter 
keep  open  the   way   of  forty   feet  wide   (Front  street)    lately  laid   out  by  said 


.-ifvL-'. 


y^  rj  4 — ' 


^z 


|P^;t 


i 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  169 

Jarvis  so  as  to  leave  open  an  uninterrupted  view  from  the  said  Dana's  present 
dwelling-house  of  such  part  of  Cambridge  Bay  and  of  Boston  as  may  fall  in 
the  course  of  the  same  way  so  far  as  the  said  Jarvis's  land,  lately  Inman's, 
extends."  It  is  said  that  from  Dana's  house  the  Charles  river  could  be  seen 
in  seven  different  directions  and  that  in  storms  the  spray  from  the  river  reach- 
ed the  house.  It  stood  some  distance  back  from  tlie  road  ou  several  terraces, 
the  hill  was  lowered  about  1856  when  the  horse  car  tracks  were  laid. 

As  late  as  1793,  there  were  still  no  other  houses  in  that  part  of  Cambridge 
except  the  Inman  house  and  one  in  Pleasant  street,  on  Dana's 
"Soden  Farm"  (standing  until  about  1S40);  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  this 
was  not  the  way  to  Boston,  but  only  "the  neck  of  land"  with  no  bridges  across 
the  river.  A  subscription  for  building  a  bridge  was  opened  in  January,  1792, 
and  was  filled  up  in  three  hours.  A  petition  was  immediately  presented  to  the 
general  court  and,  on  March  9,  Francis  Dana  and  his  associates  (Oliver  Wendell 
and  others),  were  incorporated  as  "The  proprietors  of  the  West  Boston 
Bridge,"  with  authority  to  build  a  bridge  and  collect  tolls  for  "forty  years,  dur- 
ing which  time  they  were  to  pay  annually  to  Harvard  College  or  University 
the  sum  of  three  hundred  pounds."  In  1793,  Jarvis  and  Dana  laid  out  building 
lots  for  houses  and  stores  which  were  soon  occupied,  and  also  opened  a  dike 
and  canals  to  drain  the  marsh  lands.  It  seems  very  odd,  now,  to  read  the 
protest  of  Edmund  and  Francis  Dana  in  1808,  against  the  putting  of  Haiward 
street  through  their  lands,  as  a  "road  that  is  not  required  by  any  necessity 
nor  for  the  convenience  of  the  inhabitants"  because  as  far  on  the  course 
of  the  proposed  way  as  Simeon  Ford's  brick  house,  beyond  Dee  street,  "there 
is  not  any  building  except  a  barn,  a  distance  of  one  mile,  and  there  is  already 
a  superabundance  of  roads  in  the  vicinity." 

Dana's  house  is  said  to  have  been  a  place  of  generous  hospitality  much 
frequented  by  the  leaders  of  the  Federal  party  and  by  Harvard  students,  sons 
of  the  prominent  men  in  the  southern  and  middle  states.  He  supported 
through  their  college  course  several  men  who  became  eminent  in  their  pro- 
fessions. Rev.  William  Ellery  Channing,  his  wife's  nephew,  who  graduated  in 
1798,  had  a  home  here  during  his  college  course,  says  Judge  Story. 

In  1819,  eight  years  after  Judge  Dana's  death,  his  house  was  sold  to  John 
Cook,  a  great-grandson  of  the  early  cwner  of  the  land,  and  in  1825  was 
bought  by  Rev.  John  Henry  Hopkins,  afterwards  bishop  of  Vermont,  who  oc- 
cupied it  only  a  short  time,  for  Hon.  Timothy  Fuller  was  living  here  in  1826 
with  his  family,  and  Margaret  Fuller*  once  wrote  of  the  house:  "There  was 
in  my  father's  room  a  large  closet  filled  with  books.  ...  Its  window  overlooked 

*The  house  where  Margaret  Fuller  was  born  is  still  standing,  71  Cherry  street, 
now  used  as  a  settlement  house  connected  with  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association. 


170  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

wide  fields,  gentle  slopes,  a  rich  and  smiling  country  whose  aspect  pleased 
without  much  occupying  the  eye,  while  a  range  of  blue  hills,  rising  at  about 
twelve  miles'  distance,  allured  to  reverie.  .  .  .  My  eye  was  constantly  al- 
lured to  that  distant  blue  range  and  I  would  sit  lost  in  fancies  till  tears  fell 
on  my  cheek."  Colonel  Higginson,  in  his  Memoirs  of  Margaret  Fuller,  speaks 
of  an  entertainment  given  by  Mr.  Fuller,  "to  John  Quincy  Adams,  the  presi- 
dent, in  1826,  one  of  the  most  elaborate  affairs  of  the  kind  that  had  occurred 
in  Cambridge  since  the  ante-Revolutionary  days  of  the  Lechmeres  and  Vaa- 
salls.  He  was  then  residing  in  a  fine  old  mansion,  built  by  Chief  Justice  Dana, 
on  what  is  still  called  Dana  Hill,  and  his  guests  were  invited  from  far  and 
near  to  a  dinner  and  a  ball."  Adams,  in  an  unpublished  part  of  his  diary, 
writes:  "September  26,  1826—1  went  to  Cambridge  and  dined  with  Mr.  T.  Ful- 
ler at  the  house  which  was  formerly  Judge  Dana's  and  which  he  has  just 
purchased.  President  Kirkland,  Professors  Ware  and  Willard,  Messrs.  Everett 
and  Bailey,  Dr.  Welsh  and  several  others  were  there,  with  Mrs.  Fuller  and  her 
daughter  and  his  sister.  jMr.  Fuller  had  invited  evening  company  with  the 
expectation  of  their  meeting:  me  there,  and,  among  the  rest,  the  daughters  of 
the  late  Judge  Dana.  But  the  illness  of  Mrs.  Adams  and  the  expectation 
that  John  would  g-o  this  evening  out  to  Quincy  compelled  me  to  return  to 
Boston  before  Mr.  Fuller's  evening  company  had  arrived." 

In  1835,  the  house  was  bought  by  Mr.  Isaac  Liivermore,  who  let  it  to  Mr. 
David  Mack,  of  Salem.  At  one  time  Miss  Davis,  sister  of  Admiral  Davis,  had  a 
popular  dancing  class  in  a  large  room  in  the  ell  of  the  house,  which  Thomas 
Wentworth  Higginson,  William  W.  Story,  Mary  Devens  and  other  children 
of  the  day  attended.  The  ell  was  very  long  and  was  said  to  have  slave  quarters 
in  it.  It  is  known  that  Judge  Dana  had  negro  servants,  two  of  them  bequeathed 
to  his  care  by  Judge  Trowbridge,  but  he  was  strongly  opposed  to  slavery.  In 
the  early  morning  of  January  18,  1839,  a  fire  broke  out,  "from  one  of  the 
appendages  of  the  house,"  says  the  Boston  Courier.  Of  these  "appendages," 
there  seem  to  have  been  many — a  great  barn  with  its  coach  house,  a  corn  barn, 
shed,  M'oodhouses,  spring  house,  farm  house,  etc.  "Little  could  be  done,"  con- 
tinues the  Courier,  "to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  flames,  owing  to  the  scarcity 
of  water.  ...  It  was  more  than  an  hour  before  the  main  building  took  fire. 
All  the  buildings  were  entirely  consumed." 

One  of  the  firemen  present  was  Judge  Dana's  grandson,  Richard  H.  Dana, 
Jr.,  who  had  lately  returned  from  his  two  years  before  the  mast  and  had 
joined  the  volunteer  fire  department  and  is  said,  by  an  old  inhabitant,  Mr. 
Andrew  Waltt,  who  was  also  there  as  a  fireman,  to  have  been  very  active  on 
the  occasion.  E.  E.  D. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  171 

INMAN  HOUSE. 

Ralph  Inman  was  noted  among  the  Tories  of  Cambridge,  before  the  Revolu- 
tion, for  his  magnificent  hospitality.  His  early  home  and  parentage  are  un- 
known. The  Rev.  George  Inman,  rector  of  Burrington,  Somersetshire,  Eng- 
land, is  supposed  to  have  been  his  brother.  The  first  record  we  find  of  him  is 
that,  November  2,  1746,  he  married  Susanna  Speakman,  whose  twin  sister, 
Hannah,  was  the  wife  of  John  Rowe,  merchant,  for  whom  Rowe's  Wharf, 
Boston,   was  named. 

Ralph  Inman  was  a  member  of  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  and  one  of  the  found- 
ers of  Christ  Church,  Cambridge,  and  its  first  treasurer.  In  1756,  he  bought 
one  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land,  lying  east  of  the  settled  part  of  Cam- 
bridge, on  the  north  side  of  Massachusetts  avenue,  comprising  nearly  half  of 
what  is  now  Cambridgeport.  Here,  west  of  Inman  street,  behind  the  present 
city  hall,  he  built  a  large  three-storied  house.  The  rooms  were  spacious,  low- 
studded  and  handsomely  paneled;  toward  Inman  street,  an  outer  door  led  into 
a  vestibule,  peculiar  in  form,  opening  on  one  side  into  a  long,  low  apartment, 
looking  out  on  a  piazza  toward  Boston.  This  room  opened  into  another,  with 
fire-place  opposite  the  windows,  on  either  side  of  which  were  doors  connecting 
with  the  oflices  and  kitchen.  Further  along  on  the  same  front,  was  a  large 
old-fashioned  stairway,  leading  to  the  third  floor;  and  beyond  this  were  two 
rooms,  connected  by  folding  doors.  Behind  the  first  mentioned  rooms,  were 
another  staircase  and  more  rooms.  The  house  was  moved,  in  1873,  to  the  cor- 
ner of  Brookline  and  Auburn  streets,  and  is  still  in  use  and  in  good  condition. 
The  piazzas  have  been  removed. 

Mrs.  Inman  died  in  1761,  leaving  one  son  and  two  daughters:  Sallie,  who 
died  unmarried,  in  1773,  and  Susanna,  or  Sukey,  who  married  Captain  John 
Linzee  of  the  navy  and  was  the  mother  of  the  British  admiral,  Samuel 
Hood  Linzee.  George,  the  only  son,  left  Boston  during  the  siege  and  died  in 
Grenada,  W.  I.,  in  1789.  The  Cambridge  estate  was  inherited  by  the  four 
daughters  of  this  son,  who,  with  their  mother,  were  brought  to  this  country 
in  1791.  Their  names  were:  Mary  Ann  Riche,  Susan  Linzee,  Hannah  Rowe, 
who  was  the  wife  of  William  Tilden,  and  Sallie  Coombe  Inman. 

Mr.  Inman  remained  a  widower  ten  years  and  then  married  for  his  second 
wife  a  notable  woman,  Elizabeth  Murray,  of  good  Scotch  family,  sister  of 
James  Murray,  Loyalist.  She  had  been  already  twice  married.  Her  first 
husband  was  Thomas  Campbell,  a  Scotch  merchant  and  trader  who  plied  be- 
tween Boston  and  Cape  Fear;  her  second,  James  Smith,  who  owned  the  sugar- 
bakery  on  Brattle  street,  Boston,  and  had  amassed  a  fortune  of  thirty  thou- 
sand pounds.  He  was  seventy  years  old  when  they  were  married  in  1760.  He 
died  in  1769,  leaving  to  his  wife  the  beautiful  estate  of  Brush  Hill,  Milton, 
and  much  other  property.    After  his  death,  she  went  to  visit  her  old  home  In 


172  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

Scotland  and   on   her  return   to   Boston  accepted  the  hand  of  Ralph  Inman. 
They  had  no  children. 

When  George  Inman  graduated  from  Harvard,  in  1772,  his  father  gave  a 
grand   entertainment.    John   Rowe   thus  describes  it  in  his  diary: 

"July  16,  1772,  I  went  early  to  Mr.  Inman's  whoi  made  the  Genteelest  En- 
tertainment I  ever  saw  on  acct  of  his  son  George  taking  his  degree  yesterday 
— he  had  Three  hundred  forty  seven  Gentlemen  &  Ladies  dined.  Two  hundred 
&  Ten  at  one  Table — amongst  the  Company  The  Governor  &  Family,  The 
Lieut  Governor  &  Family,  The  Admirall  &  Family  &  all  the  Remainder, 
Gentlemen  &  Ladies  of  character  «&  reputation.  The  whole  was  conducted 
with  much  ease  &  pleasure  &  all  Joyned  in  making  each  other  Happy — such 
an  entertainment  has  not  been  made  in  New  England  before  on  any  occasion. 
I  came  to  Town  say  Cambridge  &  went  to  the  Ball  at  the  Town  House,  where 
most  of  the  Company  went  to  Dance — they  were  all  very  happy  &  Cheerful 
&  the  whole  was  conducted  to  the  General  Satisfaction  of  all  present.  I  re- 
turned to  Mr.  Inman's  &  Slept  there." 

Another  great  entertainment  was  held  in  this  house  the  first  day  of  Septem- 
ber, of  the  same  year,  when  Sukey,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Inman,  marrier  Cap- 
tain John  Linzee,  Commander  of  H.  M.  S.  "Beaver,"  then  in  Boston  harbor. 
Mr.  Rowe's  wedding  present  to  the  young  couple  was  an  order  on  his  banker 
for  twenty  pounds  every  New  Year's  Day.  Three  days  after  the  wedding  they 
sailed  for  England.  George  went  into  the  office  of  the  Brimmers,  in  Boston. 
A  year  later,  Septennber,  1773,  Miss  Sallie  Inman  died,  so  their  places  were 
filled  by  Mrs.  Inman's  nieces  and  nephew,  to  whom  she  was  devoted. 

On  April  16,  1775,  Mr.  Rowe  records  the  return  of  the  Linzees  with  an  in- 
fant son,  Samuel  Hood  Linzee.  They  visited  the  Rowes  and  arrived  just  in 
time  to  witness  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution.    Mr.  Rowe  writes: 

"April  19.  Last  night  the  Grenadiers  &  Light  Companies  belonging  to  the 
several  Regiments  in  this  Town  were  ferry'd  over  Charles  River  &  landed  in 
Phipps  Farm  in  Cambridge  from  whence  they  Proceeded  on  their  way  to 
Concord,  where  they  arrived  early  this  day.  On  their  march  they  had  a 
skirmish  with  some  Country  People  at  Lexington.  The  First  Brigade  com- 
manded by  Lord  Percy  with  Two  pieces  of  Artillery  set  off  from  this  Town 
this  morning  about  Ten  of  Clock  as  a  Reinforcement  which,  with  the  Grenadiers 
&  Light  Infantry  made  about  eighteen  hundred  men.  The  People  in  the 
Country  had  notice  of  this  movement  early  in  the  Night.  Alarm  guns  were 
fired  thro'  the  Country  &  Expresses  sent  off  to  the  Different  Towns  so  that 
very  early  this  morning  large  Numbers  from  all  Parts  of  the  Country  were 
assembled.  A  General  Battle  ensued  which  from  what  I  can  learn  was  Sup- 
ported with  Great  Spirit  on  both  sides  and  continued  till  the  King's  Troops 
got  back  to  Charlestown  which  was  near  Sunset.  Numbers  are  killed  & 
wounded  on  Both  Sides.    Capt.  Linzee  &  Capt.  Collins  in  two  Small  Armed 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAIMBRIDGE  173 

Vessels  were  ordered  up  Charles  River  to  Bring  off  the  Troops  to  Boston  but 
Lord  Percy  &  General  Smith  thought  Proper  to  encamp  on  Bunker's  Hill 
this  Night— this  Unhappy  affair  Is  a  shocking  Introduction  to  all  the  Miseries 
of  a  Civil  War." 

"April  20.  The  General  sent  some  more  Troops  to  Charlestown  last  night 
and  this  morning,  so  that  Lord  Percy  and  the  Troops  under  his  Command  Re- 
turned to  Town.  This  night  some  People  abt.  Two  hundred  Attacked  Capt. 
Linzee  in  the  Armed  Schooner  a  little  Below  Cambridge  Bridge,  he  gave 
them  a  Warm  Reception  so  that  they  thought  proper  to  Retreat  with  the  Loss 
of  some  men.  Tis  said  many  thousands  of  Country  People  are  at  Roxbury 
&  in  the  neighborhood.  The  People  in  Town  are  alarmed  &  the  entrench- 
ments on  Boston  Neck  double  Guarded.  Mrs.  Linzee  din'd  at  the  Admir- 
all's." 

"April  21.  The  Reinforcement  that  was  sent  to  Charlestown  by  the  Genl. 
are  Returned  too  &  the  64th  Regimit.  that  was  at  the  Castle  are  now  in  Bos- 
ton Town  House.  All  Business  at  an  end  &  all  Communication  stop'd  be- 
tween the  Town  &  Country.  No  Fresh  Provision  of  any  kind  brought  to  the 
market  so^  that  Boston  is  in  a  most  distressed  Condition." 

So  Mr.  Inman,  who  had  probably  gone  to  town,  to  see  his  daughter,  was 
shut  up  in  Boston  and  Mrs.  Inman  was  left  in  Cambridge,  with  her  young 
nephew  John  Inness  Clark.  She  wrote  to  Boston  under  date  of  Cambridge, 
April  22,  1775,  as  follows: 

"I  have  the  pleasure  to  tell  my  dear  friends  that  I  am  well,  as  are  all 
under  this  roof. 

"You  know  how  fond  I  am  of  grandeur.  I  have  acted  many  parts  in  my 
life,  but  never  imagined  I  should  arrive  at  the  muckle  honor  of  being  a 
General;  that  is  now  the  case.  I  have  a  guard  at  the  Bottom  of  the  Garden, 
a  number  of  men  to  patrol  to  the  Marsh  and  round  the  farm,  with  a  body 
guard  that  now  covers  our  kitchen  parlor  and  now  at  twelve  o'clock  they 
are  in  a  sweet  sleep  while  Miss  Danforth  and  I  are  in  the  middle  parlor  with 
a  board  nailed  across  the  door  to  protect  them  from  harm.  The  kitchen 
doors  are  also  nailed.  They  have  the  closet  for  their  guns.  The  end  door 
is  now  very  useful.  Our  servants  we  put  to  bed  at  half  past  eight.  The  wo- 
men and  children  have  all  left  Cambridge,  so  we  are  thought  wonders. 
You  know  I  have  never  seen  troubles  at  the  distance  many  others  have,  and 
as  a  reward  the  Gods  have  granted  me  a  Mentor  and  a  Guardian  Angel  of 
three  years  of  age.  They  are  now  in  bed  together."  (The  Mentor  was  Judge 
Danforth,  the  Angel,  one  of  his  grandchildren.)  "Pray  let  their  friends  know 
he  is  better  and  she  very  well.  Mentor  bids  me  tell  you  that  we  have 
nothing  to  fear  but  from  the  troops  landing  near  us.  These  matters  you'll 
know  more  of  than  we  do;  therefore  we  shall  wait  till  we  hear  from  you 
again,    which   we    hope    will    be    time  enough  to  make  a  safe  retreat.    There 


174  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

is  not  one  servant  will  stay  if  I  go.  Poor  Creatures,  they  depend  on  me  for 
protection  and  I  do  not  chuse  to  disappoint  them,  as  far  as  it  is  in  my 
power  I  will  protect  them. 

"This  day  we  had  a  visit  of  an  officer  from  our  headquarters  with  written 
orders  to  our  g^uards  to  attend  in  a  very  particular  manner  to  our  directions. 
He  said  we  were  the  happiest  folks  he  had  seen.  To  convince  you  of  that 
I'll  tell  you  how  we  are  employed.  Jack  is  in  the  garden,  the  others  are 
planting  potatoes.  We  intend  to  make  a  fence  and  plant  corn  next  week.  To 
show  you  the  goodness  of  the  people,  they  say  we  may  have  what  provisions 
we  want.  Mentor  we  have  raised  above  us.  His  "Walks  are  in  the  upper 
chambers." 

This  letter  shows  how  plucky  Mrs.  Inman  was,  and  how  determined  to  do 
her  best  to  protect  her  husband's  interests.  Mr.  Inman  wrote  soon  after  the 
closing  of  the  Town  that  he  thought  she  was  as  safe  in  Cambridge  as  in 
Boston,  if  she  chose  to  stay  there. 

Early  in  May,  Mrs.  Inman  was  arrested  on  the  complaint  of  Mr.  Inman'a 
negro  man.  Job,  but  she  made  good  her  defense  and  was  let  go  on  parole. 
The  letters  that  passed  between  the  Tories  in  Boston  and  those  at  the  Inman 
House  in  Cambridge  are  most  interesting,  but  too  long  to  be  quoted  here. 
Many  plans  were  discussed  by  which  the  family  might  be  reunited.  Point 
Shirley  was  talked  of,  where  Mr.  Inman  owned  land.  One  of  the  islands  in 
the  harbor  was  proposed  and  Leominster,  but  Mrs.  Inman  was  in  favor  of 
St.  John,  N.  B.    Her  brother,  James  Murray,  wrote  from  Boston,   May  23: 

"Of  all  yoyr  plans  that  of  St.  John  is  the  most  out  of  the  way  and  im- 
proper. The  business  of  clearing  the  neighborhood  of  this  town  will  not  be 
so  tedious.  ...  I  should  think  it  could  be  done  in  two  or  three  weeks.  The 
greater  the  numbers  on  your  side,  without  experienced  Generals,  as  they  are, 
the  greater  will  be  the  confusion  and  the  more  total  the  rout.  One  good  ef- 
fect of  your  Army's  making  a  stand  and  taking  their  fate  on  the  Spot  may 
be  to  prevent  a  general. Devastation  of  the  Country,  which  both  sides  ought 
to  deplore  and  wish  to  avoid."  ,' 

On  June  13,  Mr.  Inman  wrote  her  an  affectionate  note  in  which  he  says: 
"I  assure  you  I  can  content  myself  in  any  little  Hovell  that  will  afford 
me  a  Bare  Sustinence  to  have  you  with  me,"  and  urges  her  to  leave  farm 
and  servants  and  come  into  Boston.  She  reminds  him,  in  her  reply,  that  they 
have  no  money  with  which  to  buy  the  necessaries  of  life,  at  siege  prices, 
and  continued  to  raise  vegetables  and  get  In  hay,  both  on  the  Cambridge 
and  Milton  estates.  Colonel  Sargeant  was  as  kind  to  her  as  was  possible, 
and  she  received  favors  from  other  officers. 

Then  came  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  If  Mrs.  Inman  wrote  any  letter 
describing  the  horrors  of  that  day,  it  has  not  been  preserved.  Her  niece,  Mrs. 
Forbes,  with  her  two  children,  had  joined  her  and  probably  Miss  Murray  was 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAINIBRIDGE  175 

there,  too.  General  Putnam  had  sent  his  son,  Daniel,  a  hid  not  yet  sixteen, 
to  stay  with  Mrs.  Inman,  and  in  his  recollections  of  the  day  he  tells  how, 
after  parting  with  his  father,  he  went  iinwillingly  to  the  Inman  house.  He 
"took  no  interest"  in  the  conversation  of  the  ladies,  and  soon  retired  to  his 
room,  but  not  to  sleep.  Long:  before  the  first  gun  was  fired  he  was  up  and 
at  the  window  looking  anxiously  toward  Charlestown.  He  goes  on  to  say: 
"Mrs.  Inman  had  been  all  day  expecting  the  British  would  embark  troops 
from  the  bottom  of  the  Common  in  Boston  and  land  themi  near  where  the 
Lexington  detachment  was  landed  and  her  attention  had  been  chiefly  attract- 
ed to  that  quarter;  but  the  furious  discharge  of  musketry  made  it  evident 
that  they  had  gone  out  some  other  way  and  were  engaged  in  a  battle,  the 
issue  or  consequences  of  which  could  not  be  foreseen.  The  day  was  drawing 
towards  its  close,  and,  dreading  the  horrors  that  might  overwhelm  her  family 
in  the  night,  everything  was  put  in  requisition  for  a  hasty  removal;  but  it 
was  after  sunset,  and  not  till  it  had  been  ascertained  at  Cambridge  that  the 
British  had  gained  possession  of  Charlestown  Heights,  with  a  loss  on  both 
sides  that  none  pretended  to  calculate,  that  we  passed  through  the  scene 
of  the  confusion  there  visible,  on  our  way  to  Brush  Hill.  We  were  hastily  and 
but  imperfectly  accoutred  for  the  jaunt,  so  that  it  was  midnight  before  we 
reached  our  destination."  (Israel  Putnam,  by  W.  F.  Livingston.) 

It  is  not  probable  that  any  of  the  family  returned  to  stay  in  the  Inman 
house  after  this,  but  they  went  back  and  forth  between  Milton  and  Cam- 
bridge, and  the  nieces  even  attended  balls  in  Boston.  .The  house  was  called 
Barrack  No.  1,  and  held  3,460  soldiers.  Colonel  Sargeant's  regiment  was  there 
during  the  winter.  In  the  Massachusetts  Archives  is  an  entry  that  Gen- 
eral Putnami's  headquarters  were  at  the  Inman  house,  which  is  perhaps  the 
authority  for  the  statement  to  that  effect  on  the  tablet  standing  on  Inman 
street. 

January  20,  1776,  the  "Falcon,"  with  the  Linzees  and  George  Inman,  sailed 
away  from  Boston,  soon  to  be  followed  by  a  host  of  other  Tories,  but  not  the 
older  Inmans.  The  sugar  house  in  Boston  had  been  used  as  barracks  for  the 
British  troops  and  later  as  an  inoculation  hospital.  Desolation  was  on  all  sides. 
On  March  23,  Mr.  Rowe  records  that  his  dinner  guests  that  day  were  "Gen- 
eral Putnam,  General  Greene,  Mr.  Inman,  Mrs.  Inman,  her  niece,  Mrs.  Forbes 
and  Jack  Rowe."  So  what  was  left  of  the  family  celebrated  the  evacuation 
of  Boston.  A  letter  written  to  Mrs.  Barnes,  of  Marlborough,  by  her  niece, 
dated  Cambridge,  April  17,  1776,  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  state  of  affairs 
after  the  seat  of  war  removed  from  this   neighborhood: 

"You  will  see  by  the  date  of  my  letter  where  I  am,  but  you  can  formi  no 
Idea  of  my  situation.  .  .  .  Miss  Murray  and  I  are  in  Mr.  Inman's  house, 
just  as  it  was  left  by  the  soldiery,  without  any  one  necessary  about  us,  ex- 
cept a  bed  to  lodge  on  &  Patrick  for  a  protector  &  servant,  in  constant  fear 


176  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

that  some  outrage  will  be  committeed  if  it  is  once  discovered  that  one  of 
us  is  connected  with  Mr.  Inman,  to  prevent  which  everything  is  done  in  my 
name,  and  as  soon  as  it  is  convenient  I  am  going  to  let  the  farm  and  take 
a  family  into  one  end  of  the  house.  You  would  really  be  diverted,  could  you 
give  a  peep  when  Mrs.  Inman  visits  us  (which  is  as  often  as  she  possibly 
can),  to  see  Betsey  &  I  resigning  our  broken  chairs  »&  teacups,  and  dipping 
the  water  out  of  an  iron  skillet  into  the  pot  as  cheerfully  as  if  we  were  using 
a  silver  urn. 

"I  cannot  tell  what  it  is  owing  to,  unless  it  is  seeing  Mrs.  Inman  in  such 
charming  spirits,  that  prevents  our  being  truly  miserable.  .  .  No  other  wo- 
man could  do  as  she  does  with  impunity,  for  she  is  above  the  little  fears 
and  weaknesses  which  are  the  inseparable  companions  of  most  of  our  sex. 
One  would  imagine  to  see  her  that  all  was   peace   and   harmony.    God   grant 

it  may  be Oh!   that  imagination    could    replace    the    wood    lot,    the 

willows  round  the  pond,  the  locust  trees  that  so  delightfully  ornamented  and 
shaded  the  roads  leading  to  this  farm.  I  say  could  imagination  supply  the 
place  of  those  to  the  former  possessor,  how  happy— but  in  vain  to  wish  it, 
every  beauty  of  art  or  nature,  every  elegance  which  it  cost  years  of  care  and 
toil  in  bringing  to  perfection,  is  laid  low.  It  looks  like  an  unfrequented  des- 
ert, and  this  farm  is  an  epitome  of  all  Cambridge,  the  loveliest  village  in 
America."    .    .    . 

This  lady  proposed  to  let  the  place  for  the  benefit  of  the  Inmans,  but  the 
oomimittee  of  correspondence  took  the  matter  out  of  her  hands  and  let  It 
as  the  property  of  an  absentee,  for  forty  pounds.  Later,  the  Inmans  re- 
turned there  to  live.  In  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Inman  to  her  brother,  dated  Sep- 
tember 18,  17S3,  she  speaks  of  the  effects  of  the  war  and  adds: 

"From  the  most  exact  computation  Mr.  I.  has  lost  five  thousand  pounds 
sterling  and  lived  a  great  part  of  the  time  in  the  sugar  house  with  only  Jack 
Marlebor'h  for  a  servant.  As  we  had  only  fifty  pounds  a  year,  he  was  ser- 
vant enough.  As  I  did  not  take  paper,  this  was  all  we  could  command.  As  to 
interest,  I  have  none  these  nine  years,  therefore  I  sold  a  house  as  soon  as 
hard  money  came  in  play  and  remitted  you  the  money.  As  to  my  personal 
expenses,  they  do  not  amiount  to  fifty  pounds  sterling  these  nine  years; 
dress  I  thought  needless,  as  I  could  neither  entertain  nor  visit,  so  I  took  the 
old  method  to  Clout  the  auld  as  the  new  was  dear." 

Two  years  later.  May  25,  1785,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Inman  closed  her  eyes  to  the 
world  she  had  done  so  much  to  make  happier  for  her  presence,  bitterly 
lamented  by  her  nieces  and  a  large  circle  of  friends.  Two  nephews,  John 
Murray  Forbes  and  Ralph  Bennet  Forbes  lived  with  the  Inmans  and  cheered 
their  last  days.  Ralph  Inman  died  In  July,  1788,  and  with  this  event  the  gay 
colonial  life  in  Cambridge  ended.  The  house  and  adjoining  lands  were 
bought  by  Leonard  Jarvis  in  1792,  and  In  1801  passed  into  the  hands  of  Jona- 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  177 

than  L,.  Austin,  and  the  estate  was  cut  up  into  building  lots.  About  1840,  it 
was  still  a  goodly  estate,  bounded  by  Massachusetts  avenue  and  Harvard 
street,  and  extending  from  Austin  street  to  the  Fuller  land,  just  beyond  Bige- 
low  street.  The  long,  broad  walk  leading  from  the  avenue  to  the  door  on  that 
side  of  the  house  was  bordered  with  high  box  bushes.  Mr.  Bigelow  lived  then 
in  the  old  house  and  Is  described,  by  one  who  remembers  him,  "as  a  gentleman 
of  the  old  school,  who  wore  the  dress  of  a  century  or  more  ago,  blue  coat,  brass 
buttons,  knee  breeclies  and  buckles,  with  frilled  shirt.  His  hair  was  in  a  queue, 
tied  in  a  piece  of  black  silk.  His  granddaughter.  Miss  Bangs,  man-ied  Alanson 
Bigelow  of  the  firm  of  Bigelow  Brothers  and  Kennard,  jewellers  of  Boston." 
He  lived  in  the  end  of  the  house  toward  Austin  street,  a  large  circle  with  fine 
trees,  one  of  which  is  still  standing,  was  between  the  house  and  Inman  street. 
The  other  end  of  the  house  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Bigelow's  daughter,  the  wife 
of  Deacon  Isaiah  Bangs. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Bigelow  the  estate  was  sold  to  Mr.  Samuel  Allen  and 
remained  intact  for  some  time.  After  his  death  it  was  bought  by  Mr.  Vinal, 
who  sold  the  house  to  the  man  who  removed  it  in  1873.  Mr.  Vinal  laid  out 
Bigelow  street  and  divided  the  land  into  house-lots.  The  lot  in  Harvard  street 
furnished  fine  skating  for  a  long  time  after  the  rest  had  been  built  upon. 

The  handsome  stone  city  hall,  which  stands  a  little  south  of  the  site  of  the 
old  house  was  the  gift  of  Frederick  H.  Rlndge  to  the  city  of  Cambridge  in  1889. 

A.  M.  D.  and  M.   I.  J.   G. 

(Two  interesting  books  have  been  freely  quoted  in  this  article.  They  are 
"Letters  and  Diary  of  John  Rowe,"  by  Anne  Rowe  Cunningham,  and  "Letters 
of  James  Murray,  Loyalist,"  by  Nina  Moore  Tiffany  and  Susan  I.  Lesley.) 

FORTIFICATIONS. 

When  the  British  soldiers  marched  to  Lexington  and  Concord  on  the  19th 
of  April,  returning  through  Cambridge  and  Charlestown,  there  were  no  forts 
from  which  the  Americans  might  molest  them,  for  until  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  the  colonists  were  all  British  subjects,  although  divided,  for 
many  years  previous,  in  public  sentiment. 

Great  changes  took  place  in  the  general  aspect  of  the  country  around  Boston 
after  the  battle  of  Lexington.  An  English  officer,  in  1775,  wrote  home  to  his 
family  this  description  of  the  locality:  "The  country  is  most  beautifully 
tumbled  about  in  hills  and  valleys,  rivers  and  woods,  interspersed  with 
straggling  villages,  with  here  and  there  a  spire  peeping  over  the  trees,  and 
the  country  of  the  most  charming  green  that  delighted  eye  ever  gazed  on." 

How  different  must  have  been  the  aspect  of  tlie  same  country  as  described 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Emerson,  of  Concord,  in  the  following  abstract:  "Who 
would  have  thought,  12  months  past,   that  all  Cambridge  would  be  covered 

12 


178  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

over  with  American  camps,  and  cut  up  into  forts  and  intrenchments,  and 
all  the  lands,  fields,  orchards  laid  common,  horses  and  cattle  feeding  in  the 
choicest  mowing  land,  whole  fields  of  corn  eaten  down  to  the  ground,  and 
large  parks  of  well  regulated  locusts  cut  down  for  fire-wood  and  other  public 
uses?  It  is  very  diverting  to  walk  among  the  camps.  They  are  as  different 
in  their  forms,  as  the  owners  are  in  their  dress,  every  tent  is  a  portraiture  of 
the  temper  and  tastes  of  the  persons  who  encamp  in  it.  Some  are  made  of 
boards,  and  some  of  sail  cloth.  Some  partly  of  one,  and  partly  of  the  other. 
Again,  others  are  made  of  stone,  turf,  brick  or  brush.  Some  are  thrown  up 
in  a  hurry;  others  curiously  wrought  with  doors  and  windows,  done  in  wreaths 
and  withes,  in  the  manner  of  a  basket.  Some  are  your  proper  tents  and  mar- 
quees, looking  like  the  regular  camp  of  the  enemy." 

After  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  on  June  17,  1775,  it  became  necessary  to 
protect  the  large  army  quartered  at  Cambridge  and  Somerville;  therefore, 
General  Putnam  took  his  men  no  farther  away  from  Charlestown  than  Pros- 
pect Hill,  Somerville,  where  he  ordered  intrenchments  to  be  thrown  up,  thus 
commanding  the  pass  at  Charlestown  Neck.  General  Washington  arrived  in 
Cambridge  on  the  2nd  of  July,  1775,  to  take  command  of  the  army. 

His  first  duty  was  to  inspect  the  fortifications.  In  various  letters  he  writes 
as  follows:  "On  our  side  we  have  thrown  up  intrenchments  on  "Winter  and 
Prospect  Hills,  the  enemy's  camp  in  view,  little  more  than  a  mile  away." 
"About  200  rods  below  the  college  we  have  a  redoubt,  which  begins  the  line; 
then  about  60  rods  from  that  another  redoubt,  and  lines  continued  nearly  100 
rods.  Then  at  Charlestown  Road,  on  the  west  side  of  the  road  at  the  foot 
of  Prospect  Hill,  another  redoubt  and  strong  fortification."  "I  have  visited 
the  posts  occupied  by  our  troops  when  the  weather  permitted,  and  recon- 
noitred those  of  the  enemy.  The  latter  are  strongly  entrenched  on  Bunker 
Hill,  also  a  battery  on  Copps'  Hill,  which  much  annoyed  our  troops  in  the 
last  attack." 

During  the  summer,  fall  and  winter  of  1775-6,  the  American  forces  were  at 
work  under  the  orders  of  the  commander-in-chief,  in  enlarging  and  strength- 
ening their  line  of  fortifications.  The  British  continually  fired  into  the  Am- 
erican lines,  while  they  were  at  work — doing,  however,  little  damage  to  life 
or  limb.  The  Americans  were  only  able  to  return  the  fire  at  rare  intervals, 
owing  to  the  lack  of  ammunition;  this  lack  was  most  keenly  felt  by  General 
Washington,  who  scarcely  dared  to  let  his  officers  know  the  desperate  straits 
to  which  his  army  was  subjected.  General  Putnam  was  unable  to  restrain 
his  impatience  at  this  trying  time;  his  temper  was  expressed  in  a  letter  of 
one  of  his  subordinates  who  writes:  "Everything  thaws  but  Old  Put,  whose 
daily  cry  is,  'Powder,  powder,  ye  gods,  give  us  powder."  It  is  said  that,  while 
the  Americans  were  at  work  on  the  forts  and  intrenchments,  the  balls  of  the 
British  were  falling  around  them— and  the  men  would  drop  pick  and  shovel 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  179 

to  race  after  the  balls  which  had  missed  their  mark — and  at  the  end  of  their 
day's  work — ^would  take  account  of  stock  to  see  which  one  had  secured  the 
greatest  number  of  balls. 

In  all  probability,  the  first  fort  to  be  thrown  up  under  Washing'ton's  orders 
was  Fort  No.  1,  on  the  river  front.  It  is  a  matter  of  tradition  that  here 
Washington  threw  out  the  first  shovel  full  of  earth.  Fort  No.  2  was  on  But- 
ler's Hill,  now  Dana  Hill.  Fort  No.  3  was  just  across  the  Cambridge  line,  in 
Somerville,  on  the  east  side  of  Prospect  Hill.  At  Lechmere's  Point  was  a 
strong  redoubt  called  Fort  Putnam.  These  forts  were  connected  for  de- 
fense by  trenches  and  earthworks,  some  traces  of  which  have  remained  in 
the  city  until  within  the  last  fifteen  years.  The  river  front  was  protected 
by  two  half-moon  batteries,  one  at  Pine  Grove,  on  Oyster  Bank,  and  the 
other  at  Captain's  Island.  Washington  refers  to  these  in  a  letter  written  in 
November,  1775:  "I  have  caused  two  half-moon  batteries  to  be  thrown  up 
for  occasional  use,  between  Lechmere's  Point  and  the  mouth  of  Cambridge 
River,  and  another  work  at  the  causey  going  to  Lechmere's  Point  to  command 
that  Pass." 

The  line  of  fortifications  in  Cambridge  can  be  traced  as  follows,  beginning 
at  Fort  No.  1  at  the  river,  now  the  site  of  the  Riverside  Press,  in  a  north- 
easterly direction  to  Fort  No.  2,  on  Dana  Hill,  thence  a  little  more  to  the 
east,  where  was  the  strong  fort  at  Prospect  Hill,  which  commanded  Cam- 
bridge. Southeast  of  Prospect  Hill  was  the  formidable  fortress.  Fort  Putnam, 
and  near  this,  on  the  river  front,  a  small  battery,  thence  up  the  river  to  the 
battery  at  the  foot  of  Allston  street,  now  called  Fort  Washington,  then  a 
little  farther  up  the  river  the  battery  at  Captain's  Island,  at  the  foot  of  Mag- 
azine street,  which  brings  us  back  to  Fort  No.  1,  not  many  rods  away. 

This  line  of  forts  across  the  land  was  continued  through  Somerville  and 
Medford,  on  the  east,  until  the  Mystic  River  was  reached,  and  on  the  west 
through  Brookline,  Roxbury  and  Dorchester  to  Boston  Harbor,  thus  cutting 
off  the  British  in  Boston  and  Charlestown  from  obtaining  supplies  by  land. 
There  is  hardly  a  trace  to  be  found  of  these  forts  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion.   Most  of  them  are  marked  by  tablets  erected  by  the  city  government. 

The  three-gun  battery  at  the  foot  of  Allston  street  retains  the  semblance  of 
a  fort,  and  is  called  Fort  Washington.  The  land  where  this  battery  was 
thrown  up  had  been  held  in  common  from  the  close  of  the  Revolution  till 
1S57,  when  it  was  deeded  to  the  city  by  the  following  persons:  Edmund  T. 
and  Elizabeth  Hastings,  Mary  E.  Dana,  Joseph  A.  and  Penelope  Willard,  John 
and  Hannah  S.  Bartlett.  A  fund  of  $800  was  also  turned  over  to  the  city,  by 
these  people  who  had  cared  for  this  plot  of  historic  land.  The  conditions 
named  in  the  deed  were  as  follows:  "That  the  above  premises  when  suitably 
enclosed  and  adorned  by  said  city,  shall  forever  remain  open  for  light,  air,  and 
ornament,  for  the  convenience  and  accommodation  of  the  owners  of  estates 
in  said  Pine  Grove  and  of  the  Public  generally." 


180  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

The  city  accepted  this  gift,  and  with  the  assistance  of  the  commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts  proceeded  to  restore  this  battery  to  its  original  condition,  to 
build  a  substantial  fence  around  it  and  and  to  erect  a  flag-staff.  The  secretary 
of  war  gave  three  thirty-pounder  guns,  and  the  secretary  of  the  navy  gave 
the  gun  carriages.  The  state  legislature  voted  to  appropriate  the  sum  of 
$2,000,  "provided  the  city  of  Cambridge  shall  appropriate  a  sum  sufflcient  to 
complete  said  fence  at  a  cost  not  less  than  four  thousand  dollars,  and  said 
Fort  Washington  shall  always  be  accessible  to  the  public,  and  that  same  city 
of  Cambridge  shall  always  keep  the  fence  proposed  to  be  built,  in  good   repair." 

In  the  fall  of  1900,  the  attention  of  the  Hannah  Winthrop  Chapter,  N.  S. 
D.  A.  R.,  was  called  to  the  neglected  condition  of  this  old  fort.  The  fence  was 
badly  in  need  of  repair,  and  the  three  guns  were  pointing  towards  heaven  in 
as  many  angles.  After  various  interviews  with  the  mayors,  park  commis- 
sioners and  members  of  the  city  council,  in  1903,  the  city  government  voted  to 
repair  the  fence  and  restore  this  sole  remaining  relic  of  the  forts  of  the 
Revolution. 

"Let  no  unpatriotic  hand  destroy  this  Revolutionary  relic,  now  known  as 
Fort  "Washington." 

A.  L.  L.  W. 

THOMAS  GRAVES-ATHERTON  HAUGH  HOUSE. 

A  previous  chapter  has  stated  that  Thomas  Dudley  built  the  first  house  In 
Cambridge  and  that  it  stood  on  Dunster  street.  That  is  true  if  we  consider 
only  the  settlement  made  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1631;  but,  for  more  than  a 
year  before  that  time,  there  had  been  standing  within  the  bounds  of  the  New- 
towne  that  was  to  be,  a  comfortable  house  surrounded  by  gardens  and  fields 
laid  out  by  a  man  practiced  in  choosing  a  good  site  for  a  home. 

On  the  tenth  of  March,  1628-29,  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company  in  England 
agreed  with  Thomas  Graves,  a  skilful  engineer  of  Gravesend  in  the  county  of 
Kent,  to  lay  out  the  town  of  Charlestown,  and  promised  to  pay  him,  if  he 
stayed  in  their  service,  fifty  pounds  a  year,  to  give  him  a  house  and  land  to  live 
on.  The  agreement  reads:  "And  in  case  the  said  Comp  [after  I]  shall  have 
continued  6  or  8  months  in  the  country — shall  desyre  my  con- 
tynuance — doe  hereby  pmise  to  bee  at  the  chardge  of  the  transportacon 
to  Newe  England  of  my  wiffe,  ffyve  children,  a  boy  and  a  mayd  servant — 
and  there  to  assyne  me  one  hundred  acres  of  land  and  to  have  pte  thereof 
planted  at  the  compainies  chardge  against  the  coming  of  my  ffameley." 

Thomas  Graves  arrived  at  Salem  during  the  first  week  in  July,  1629,  in  the 
fleet  with  Higginson.  Later  he  laid  out  the  town  of  Charlestown,  directed 
the  building  of  the  palisade  and  the  Great  House.  He  liked  the  new  land 
and  wrote  home  of  it:  "It  is  a  goodly  country,  rich — I  never  saw  a  richer 
except    Hungaria— corn   and    cattle    doe    prosper— in    iron    It    excelleth."    He 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  181 

was  one  of  the  council,  trained  the  men  in  use  of  arms,  was  consulted  often 
about  division  of  lands,  but  little  is  known  of  him,  after  all,  except  that 
he  was  widely  traveled  and  of  great  skill,  "experieaced  in  the  discovery  and 
finding  out  of  iron  mynes — in  fCortiflcacons  of  all  sorts — in  surveyinge  of 
buildings  and  lands  and  in  measurlnge  of  land,  in  describing  a  country  by 
mappe."  That  he  stayed  a  few  years  is  certain,  for  he  was  living  onhishun- 
dred  acres  in  the  uplands  of  what  is  now  East  Cambridge  when,  March 
6,  1632,  the  boundaries  of  Charlestown  and  Newtowne  were  fixed,  for  in  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  Records  we  find  this  statement:  "First  it  is  agreed  that 
all  the  lands  impaled  by  Newe  Towne  men  with  the  necke  thereunto  ad- 
joyneing  whereon  Mr.   Graves  dwelleth   shall  belong  to  said   New  Towne." 

That  the  house  was  large  we  infer,  for  the  five  children  needed  room,  and 
probably  it  was  much  like  those  built  later  by  Dudley  and  Bradstreet, 
square,  spacious,  such  as  a  man  of  the  great  world  would  demand.  Around 
it  were  cultivated  lands  promised  him  by  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Com- 
pany— the  hundred  acres  of  the  agreement.  Why  the  owner  left,  or  where 
he  went  we  do  not  know;  whether,  his  work  done,  he  returned  to  England, 
or  whether  he  was  that  Thomas  Graves  who  in  1640  laid  out  the  town  of 
"Woburn,  we  cannot  say,  but  in  the  "Registere  Booke  of  the  lands  and  Hous- 
es in  the  Newtowne"  under  the  record  of  the  10th  of  October,  1635,  the 
house  became  the  property  of  another. 

"Atterton:  Hough.  In  Graues  his  Necke  Aboute  one  hundred  and  Thirty 
Ackers  with  one  Dwelinge  house  and  outhouses:"  Mr,  Atherton  Haugh 
was  a  man  of  means,  assistant  to  the  General  Court,  1635-36,  and  later 
deputy.  He  lived  in  the  neck — now  the  Haugh  farm — purchasing  adjoining 
lots  till  in  1642  it  contained  three  hundred  acres,  but  before  that  time  he  had 
returned  to  Boston  to  live.  He  died  in  his  house  on  the  corner  of  Washing- 
ton and  School  streets  and  the  estate  fell  to  his  son,  Rev.  Samuel  Haugh, 
who  left  it  to  his  son,  Samuel,  who  died  leaving  it  much  encumbered.  In 
1679,  the  widow  of  this  Samuel  asked  permission  of  the  general  court  to  sell 
part  of  it  to  satisfy  the  debts  of  the  estate,  which  permission  was  granted, 
and  in  1699  the  farm  became  the  property  of  John  Langdon  for  1,140 
pounds,  and  on  August  15,  1706,  he  sold  it  to  Spencer  Phips,  who  went  there 
to  live. 

Tradition  has  it  that  Phips,  afterward  lieutenant-governor,  built  himself 
a  mansion  on  what  is  now  Otis  street,  and  that,  during  the  housewarming 
and  husking  given  to  welcome  his  kin  and  his  friends,  the  house  was 
burned.  If  that  is  so,  he  built  another  on  Plymouth  street,  near  Berkshire, 
and  of  this  we  shall  need  to  speak  later.  But  when  he  died  in  1757,  his 
homestead  was  on  Arrow  street,  near  Bow,  the  Winthrop  place.  In  the  in- 
ventory made  by  Phips,  the  estate  is  called  two  farms,  with  a  house  and 
a  barn   on   each — the   Bordman   house  on    Plymouth      street    just    mentioned, 


182  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

and  the  old  Haugh  house — (Thomas  Graves's  home)  on  the  northerly  side 
of  what  is  now  Spring  street,  between  Third  and  Fourth  streets;  in  all,  326 
acres,  which  were  divided  among  the  children  and  grandchildren:  Colonel 
David  Phips,  Sarah,  wife  of  Andrew  Bordman,  Mary,  wife  of  Richard 
Lechmere,  Rebecca,  wife  of  Judge  Joseph  Lee,  and  the  children  of  Eliza- 
beth, deceased  wife  of  Colonel  John  Vassall,  most  of  whom  you  have  al- 
ready met  in  their  homes  in  Tory  Row. 

LECHMERE  POINT  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 

Richard  Lechmere  bought  Colonel  David  Phips's  share,  that  of  the  Vassall 
heirs,  which,  added  to  that  of  his  wife,  made  up  what  was  henceforth 
called,  from  him,  Lechmere's  Point.  The  highlands  of  Phips  farm  were 
shut  off  from  what  is  now  Cambridgeport  by  the  Great  Marsh,  which, 
overflowing  at  high  tide,  made  an  island  only  to  be  reached  by  boat  from 
Boston  or  from  the  Charlestown  side  (now  Somerville)  by  the  bridge  over 
Willis's  creek  (Miller's  river).  The  road  from  the  centre  of  Cambridge  ran 
to  Charlestown  and  met  the  bridge,  by  which  one  must  cross  to  get  to  the 
point.  There  was  a  causeway  on  the  point  side  which  was  often  under 
water. 

On  the  north,  at  Plymouth  street,  was  the  Bordman  estate  where  Andrew 
Bordman,  Jr.,  lived  with  his  wife  In  the  old  homestead  of  Spencer  Phips. 
Beyond  were  the  woods,  extending  nearly  to  Harvard  square,  separating 
these  two  farms  from  the  Inman  estate  and  the  Soden  estate  near  the 
river.  These  four  were  the  only  houses  in  1793  below  Butler's  hill,  where 
Judge  Francis  Dana  had  his  home.  Beyond  woods  and  marshes  rose  the 
fields  of  Lechmere  point,  inaccessible  except  by  the  causeway  over  Miller's 
creek,  or  some  roads  in  the  marsh  over  which  wagons  took  meadow  hay 
to  the  Bordman  farm.  In  the  old  farm  house  lived  Hobart  Russell,  a  rela- 
tive of  that  Jason  Russell  killed  by  Gage's  troops  at  Menotomy  on  their  re- 
turn from  Concord.  He  died  in  1782,  drowned  as  he  was  crossing  from 
Boston   to   East   Cambridge. 

Such  was  the  point  on  that  memorable  18th  of  April,  1775,  when  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Smith,  of  the  Tenth,  landed  his  800  British  soldiers  at  the  old 
farm.  The  story  goes  that  one  of  his  men  was  taken  ill,  was  left  here, 
and  found  his  way  to  the  old  house;  that  the  alarm  was  given  from  here 
which  sent  the  Cambridge  company  so  quickly  on  the  way  to  Concord.  Si- 
lently— unnoticed  it  would  have  been  if  Gage's  secrets  had  not  been  be- 
trayed— the  British  regulars  crept  over  the  side  of  the  hill,  by  the  cause- 
way, now  Gore  street,  by  the  bridge  over  Miller's  river  to  the  Charlestown 
side,  then  by  Milk  Row  road  to  Beech  street,  North  avenue,  and  on  to  Lex- 
ington   to    surprise    the   stores   at    Concord. 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  183 

In  1880,  Cambridge  placed  a  tablet  on  the  sidewalk  on  Second  street 
near  Otis,  on  the  easterly  side  of  the  courthouse  yard,  bearing  this  in- 
scription, 

"Near  This  Spot 
800  British  Soldiers 
From  Boston  Common 
Landed  April   19th,    1775, 
On  Their  March  to 
Lexington  and    Concord." 

The  story  of  that  march  has  been  too  well  told  for  one  to  tell  it  here, 
but  on  this  spot  began  that  fight  which  wrenched  the  colonies  from  the 
crown  and  made  them  free  and  Independent.  After  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill,  the  Americans  feared  an  attack  on  Cambridge,  so  they  hastened  to 
fortify  all  the  heights  on  this  side  of  the  river,  Ploughed  hill.  Cobble  hill. 
Prospect  hill  and  along  the  ridge  of  Butler's  hill  to  the  Charles.  TVlien 
"Washington  came  in  July,  1775,  he  hoped  to  use  the  forts  thus  made  in 
attacking  Boston,  but  his  generals  thought  it  impracticable,  and  congress 
forbade  it.  Lacking  arms,  powder,  ordnance,  with  less  than  9,000  men  in 
the  army,  with  old  men  retiring  and  new  ones  to  be  recruited,  he  still  hoped 
on.  Why  the  British  did  not  attack  the  Americans  is  as  much  of  a  mys- 
tery to  the  student  of  military  tactics  as  it  was  to  Washington  himself, 
but  he  kept  on,  and  two  half-moon  batteries  were  planted  commanding  the 
space  between  the  mouth  of  the  Charles  river  and  Lechmere  point; 
also  one  at  the  causeway  protecting  the    point    itself. 

On  November  9,  Lieutenant  Clark,  with  400  men,  landed  at  high  tide  at 
Lechmere  point,  protected  by  the  frigate  "Cerberus"  and  floating  batteries. 
Colonel  Thompson  came  at  once  onto  the  point  with  his  riflemen,  forded 
the  causeway  to  the  island,  fired  on  the  British  troops,  who  were  just  em- 
barking, taking  with  them  the  ten  cattle  they  had  captured.  In  this  skir- 
mish two  Americans  were  dangerously  wounded  and  General  Washington 
regarded  it  as  the  preliminary  to  a-  general  attack,  and  went  on  strength- 
ening his  lines.  The  capture  by  Captain  Manly  of  the  ordnance  brig, 
"Nancy,"  in  Boston  bay,  came  just  in  time  to  equip  the  works.  A  thir- 
teen-inch  mortar  was  greeted  with  the  warmest  welcome  and  christened 
"Congress"  by  Israel  Putnam,  with  Major  Mifflin  as  sponsor,  and  on  the 
night  of  November  29,  1775,  Washington  erected  on  the  hill  at  Lechmere 
point  a  bomb  battery,  which,  in  spite  of  cold  and  snow,  was  carried  to 
completion.  A  new  causeway  was  built,  December  12,  over  the  marsh,  and 
on  December  16,   a  covered  way  nearly    to   the   top   of  the   hill. 

On  the  17th  of  December,  General  Putnam  was  ordered  to  break  ground 
near  the  water  side,  half  a  mile  only  from  the  British  man-of-war.  Be- 
cause of  the  fog,  the  party  was  not  discovered     till     noon,     when    the    ship 


184  HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE 

opened  fire  and  with  shell  from  Barton's  point,  now  Leverett  street,  Bos- 
ton, drove  the  Americans  off  the  hill.  One  man  was  wounded  in  this  en- 
gagement. The  next  day,  General  Heath  went  on  with  the  work.  The  sol- 
diers, accustomed  to  the  firing,  were  not  to  be  driven  away.  The  18- 
pounders  from  Cobble  hill,  Somerville,  protected  them.  In  the  afternoon  of 
that  day,  Washington  and  his  generals  came  to  the  point  and  up  the  way 
to  the  hill,  to  inspect  the  new  fort,  which  was  to  bring  him  so  much  nearer 
the  fulfillment  of  his  hopes.  Two  redoubts  had  been  made,  one  for  a 
mortar,  and  the  fort  at  Lechmere  point  became  the  most  important  of  all 
those  about  Boston.  "Give  us  powder  and  authority  and  Boston  can  be 
set  in  flames,"  wrote  Colonel  Moylan.  All  through  December  the  work 
went  on  under  fire  from  the  British.  "Congress"  was  placed  in  the  re- 
doubt, all  ready,  should  authority  be  given  by  its  namesake  to  start  the 
bombardment.  Not  until  the  last  of  February  were  the  works  complete. 
Then  came  the  heavy  artillery  from  Crown  point  and  Ticonderoga.  Colonel 
Knox  ordered  Burbeck,  his  lieutenant-colonel,  to  arm  the  batteries  at  Lech- 
mere point  with  two  18-  and  two  24-pounders  to  be  taken  from  Prospect 
hill.  On  the  26th  of  February,  General  "Washington  announced  that  they 
had  been  placed  there  and  that  two  platforms  for  mortars  had  been  erected, 
but  the  powder  was  still  lacking. 

FORTS  ON  LECHMERE  POINT. 

At  last,  in  March,  began  that  attack  which  drove  Howe  and  Clinton 
from  Boston,  and  on  March  17,  1776,  General  Washington  wrote  to  Governor 
Cooke:  "I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  this  morning  the  minis- 
terial troops  evacuated  the  town  of  Boston  without  destroying  it,  and  that 
we  are  now  in  full  possession."  Lechmere  point  played  a  great  part  in  the 
siege  of  Boston,  for  it  was  within  a  half  mile  of  the  enemy  and  Its  guns 
closest  to  Boston.  The  British  knew  that  its  completion  meant  their 
downfall.  A  visitor  to  the  fortifications  about  Boston  in  1822  describes 
Fort  Putnam,  as  tlie  redoubt  was  afterward  called,  as  the  one  showing 
most  science  in  its  construction,  having,  too,  a  wider  and  deeper  fosse  than 
other  fortifications.  He  saw  with  regret  the  hill  disappearing  and  the  old 
bastions  used  for  workshops,  where  carpenters  prepared  the  wooden  parts 
of  the  church  then  being  built  for  the  Methodist  society — "the  bastions 
whence  cannon  were  once  directed  at  the  town  of  Boston."  The  redoubt 
wag  in  shape  of  an  angle  with  the  tip  facing  nearly  east,  the  bastions  at 
the  ends,  the  northern  one  where  Mr.  Quinn's  house  now  stands  on  the  top 
of  the  hill,  corner  of  Fourth  and  Otis  streets,  opposite  the  Putnam  School, 
and  the  southern  near  the  corner  of  Thorndike  and  Third  streets.  Otis 
street  was  laid   out  through   the  old  fort. 

In    1799,    Andrew    Craigie    bought    all  these  lands  from  the  Lechmere  fam- 


HISTORIC    GUIDE    TO    CAMBRIDGE  185 

ily  for  less  than  $20,000.  The  Lechmere  Point  Land  Corporation  was 
formed,  and  Craigie  bridge  built  in  1809  froan  Barton's  point  to  the  East 
Cambridge  side.  Building  began,  a  road  was  made  through  the  old  woods 
to  the  college — the  road  which  is  now  Cambridge  street — and  in  1816,  at 
a  cost  of  $24,000  to  the  corporation,  the  county  buildings  were  built  here, 
on  land  presented  by  it  to  the  city.  "The  glacis,  counterscarp,  embrasures 
are  fast  disappearing,  builders  are  completing  the  destruction  of  the 
strongest  battery  erected  by  the  army  of  America,  and  thus  achieving 
without  opposition  that  which  an  enemy  could  not  efEect.  A  causeway 
made  across  the  marsh  which  crosses  the  brow  of  the  hill  and  the  lines 
which  flanked  Willis's  Creek  are  still  perfect  and  may  be  traced  with  great 
facility,"   says  thfe  visitor  already  mentioned. 

LECHMERE  POINT. 

Until  about  1820,  near  Fort  Putnam,  below  it,  and  not  far  from  the  spot 
where  Colonel  Smith  landed  his  troops,  lay  the  old  Haugh  farm  house, 
part  of  which  was  built  for  Thomas  Graves,  engineer,  skilled  in  "fforti- 
ficacons,"  and  then  one  Dudley,  taking  possession  without  consent  of  the 
Lechmere  Point  Land  Company,  and  refusing  to  move,  the  house  was  torn 
down  over  his  head,  after  standing  on  the  same  spot  for  more  than  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five  years.  Mr.  Samuel  Slocum,  late  treasurer  of  the 
East  Cambridge  Savings  Bank,  saw  the  old  house  pulled  down.  There  is 
nothing  now  to  show  where  it  once  stood. 

In  the  wall  of  the  Putnam  School  is  a  stone  tablet  which  reads: 

"The  Site  of 

Fort  Putnam 

Erected  by  the  American  Forces 

Dec.  1775, 

During  the  Siege  of  Boston." 

Local  history  in  East  Cambridge  has    received    little    attention,    but    here 

stood   the  first  house  built  in  the  bounds  of  what   now  is   Cambridge;    here 

the   British    landed   in   April,   1775;    and    from   here    General    Washington,    in 

the   fort    built   by   Israel   Putnam   and  General     Heath,     directed     his     guns 

with  such   deadly  efEect  that   the  British  troops  were  driven  out  of  the  town 

of  Boston.    It  was   the  most  important    fortification     on     this     side    of     the 

Charles  river.    How  full  of  interest  it  is  to  all  Cambridge  citizens,  especially 

to  those  born  on  the  site  of  old  Fort  Putnam  itself! 

H.  E.  McI.      * 


APPENDIX 


PRESIDENT  HENRY  DUNSTER,  Page  61. 

Kev.  William  Hewitson  has  lately  published  the  following  entries  from  the  Parish 
Kegister  of  Bury,  Lancashire,  England: 

Baptisms,  Henry  Dunster  of  Bury,  November  26, 1609. 
Burials,  Henry  Dunster  of  Baleholt,  September  16,  1646. 

BRADISH-BIGELOW-OWEN  HOUSE. 

No  description  has  been  given  of  a  Revolutionary  house  that  stood  south  of  Brattle 
Square,  near  the  river,  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  building.  Many  now  living 
will  remember  the  house,  which  was  on  a  slight  rise  of  land  and  was  surrounded  by 
trees  and  an  apple  orchard. 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  Ebenezer  Bradish,  Jr.,  H.  C.  1769,  lived  here.  He 
was  the  son  of  Ebenezer  and  Eunice  (Cooke)  Bradish,  who  kept  the  Blue  Anchor 
Tavern  ;  he  married,  in  1772,  Hannah  Paine  of  Worcester,  and  studied  and  prac- 
tised law.  He  was  thought  to  be  a  Tory,  but,  owing  to  his  humble  confession  and 
promise  of  good  behavior,  he  was  allowed  to  remain  in  Cambridge  during  the  war. 
He  removed  to  Lancaster  and  died  there  in  1818. 

The  next  owner  of  the  house  was  Abraham  Bigelow,  whose  son  Abraham 
Bigelow,  Jr.,  inherited  it.  Abraham  Bigelow,  3d,  of  Philadelphia  and  Amelia  H. 
Bigelow  of  Boston  sold  it  to  John  Owen,  October  21,  1834. 

Mr.  John  Owen  was  a  publisher  and  bookseller  in  Harvard  Square.    He  published 

several  of  the  early  editions  of  Longfellow's  works  and  was  until  his  death  a  friend 

of  the  poet.    The  city  building  was  erected  on  the  spot  in  1874. 

M.  I.  J.  G. 

HILLIARD-STORY  HOUSE,  Page  89. 

April  18,  1808,  William  Hilliard,  bookseller,  bought  the  Brattle  homestead,  nine- 
teen acres  and  a  half,  from  the  heirs  of  Thomas  Brattle.  "Also  the  Wyeth  place, 
so  called  lying  near  the  north  end  of  the  causeway  to  Cambridge  Bridge."  Two 
lots,  fifty  feet  each  on  Brattle  Street,  had  been  sold  from  the  Brattle  property  before 
this,  one  to  Torrey  Hancock  and  the  other  to  Deacon  Josiah  Moore.  The  first 
named  is  where  the  village  smithy  stood,  the  second  lot  is  now  the  east  corner  of 
Brattle  and  Hilliard  Streets.  Mr.  Hilliard  bought  this  lot  from  Deacon  Moore  and 
built  the  brick  house  now  standing,  which  he  occupied  until  he  sold  it  to  Harvard 
College,  August  3,  1829,  after  which  it  was  the  home  of  Judge  Joseph  Story. 

M.  I.  J.  G. 


APPENDIX  187 

EDWARD  WINSHIP. 

The  owner  in  1642  of  the  house  at  the  east  corner  of  Brattle  and  Mason  Streets 
was  Lieutenant  Edward  Winship,  who  came  here  in  1635.  He  filled  many  impor- 
tant offices  in  the  town,  was  Selectman  fourteen  years  and  Representative  ei"-ht 
years.  He  died  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age,  December  2,  1688.  He  was  a 
lieutenant  of  militia,  and  the  sword  and  spear  cut  on  his  finely  carved  slate  head- 
stone in  the  old  burying  ground  recall  that  fact. 

The  estate  comprised  two  acres  and  a  half  and  was  bounded  on  the  northeast  by 
the  land  of  Guy  Banbriflge  (page  126),  Daniel  Kerapster  and  the  common,  and  on  the 
southeast  by  land  of  Henry  Dunster.  Lieut.  Edward  Winship  married,  first,  Jane, 
sister  of  the  second  Mrs.  Edward  Goffe  and  daughter  of  Widow  Isabel  Wilkinson. 
The  latter  owned  this  estate  in  partnership  with  Lieut.  Winship  and  lived  with 
him.  His  second  wife,  whom  he  married  before  1652,  was  named  Elizabeth  ;  there 
were  children  by  both  marriages. 

His  fourth  child,  by  his  first  wife,  was  Joanna  Winship,  who  never  married. 
She  was  born  in  1645,  probably  in  this  Brattle  Street  house,  and  was  the  village 
schoolmistress  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  inscription  on 
her  headstone  in  the  old  burying  ground  reads  : 

"Here  lyes  the  body  of  Mrs,    Joanna  Winship,  aged  62  years,  who  departed  this 
life  November  the  19th.  1707. 

"  This  good  school  dame 

No  longer  school  must  keep, 
Which  gives  us  cause 
For  children's  sake  to  weep." 

M.  I.  J.  G. 

ORNE-AUSTIN-HAYES   HOUSE. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  of  Watertown,  a  ferry,  at  the  foot  of  Elmwood 
Avenue,  took  passengers  across  the  river.  The  narrow  lane  that  led  to  the  ferry  was 
called  Sir  Eichard's  Way,  from  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  the  founder  of  Watertown. 

In  1807  John  G.  Orne  built  a  storehouse  close  to  the  ferry,  then  called  Oliver's  or 
Gerry's  Landing,  on  land  bought  of  Elbridge  Gerry.  The  neighbors  bought  provi- 
sions there.  At  that  time  Mount  Auburn  Street  was  being  cut  through  from  Brattle 
Square  to  Elmwood  Avenue. 

Two  years  later,  Sarah  Orne,  widow,  bought  a  lot  of  high  land  for  $1700  from 
Elbridge  Gerry,  and  had  this  solidly  built  storehouse  moved  on  to  it.  It  was  then 
converted  into  a  handsome  dwelling-house,  well  wainscotted  within,  and  a  strip  of 
land  purchased  from  Josiah  Coolidge  was  added  to  the  grounds.  In  1826  Mrs.  Orne 
sold  to  Loring  Austin,  who  was  living  in  it  before  that  date,  for  S6000. 

Later  occupants  were  Stillman  Willis,  his  son-in-law  Mr.  Wild,  and  Forsythe 
Wilson,  the  poet.  The  Episcopal  Theological  School  bought  the  place  and  Rev. 
John  S.  Stone,  the  first  dean,  lived  here  a  short  time.  In  1869  Mr.  John  L.  Hayes 
bought  the  house,  which  is  still  occupied  by  his  family. 


188  APPENDIX 

SUPPOSED   SITE    OF   THE   HOUSE   OF   LEIF   ERIKSON. 

Though  this  book  claims  ouly  to  be  an  historic  guide,  it  seems  well  to  mention  the 
stone  placed  by  Professor  Eben  Norton  Horsford  to  mark  the  supposed  site  of  the 
house  of  Leif  Erikson  in  the  year  1000.  It  is  at  the  west  end  of  Charles  River  Park, 
near  the  Cambridge  Hospital,  where  some  articles,  supj)osed  to  be  remains  of  these 
early  explorers,  were  unearthed  a  few  years  ago. 

INMAN    HOUSE. 

On  page  175  we  read  that  George  Inman  sailed  from  Boston  January  20,  1776,  on 
"H,  M.  S.  Falcon,"  and  on  page  171  that  he  died  in  Grenada,  W.  I.,  in  1789.  In 
the  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography  for  1883,  Volume  VII,  pp. 
237-248,  may  be  found  part  of  George  Inman's  journal  during  the  first  years  of  the 
Eevolution,  edited  by  the  owner,  Charles  R.  Ilildebrun.  With  it  is  his  portrait, 
apparently  from  a  miniature,  taken  when  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  H.  B.  M.'s  20th 
Foot. 

George  Inman  was  with  the  British  Army  during  the  Campaign  in  New  York, 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  On  April  23,  1778,  he  married,  in  Philadelphia, 
Mary  Badger.  The  young  couple  had  a  son  Ralph,  born  in  New  York,  January  26, 
1779,  who  died  in  that  city,  September  20,  of  the  same  year,  and  was  buried  in  the 
vault  of  John  Leake,  Esq.,  in  Trinity  Churchyard.  In  December  the  Inmans  went 
to  London.  A  second  son,  John  Freeman  Inman,  was  born  in  England.  Unfortu- 
nately this  published  journal  ends  with  the  year  1782. 

M.  I.  J.  G. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Daniel,  69 

Acacia  street,  99 

Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  167 

Adams  House,  94 

Adams,  Abigail  (Mrs.  John),  47,  78, 167,  170 

Esther  (Sparhawk),  36 

Henry,  59 

John,  45,  87,  105,  115,  165,  166,  167,  168 

John  Quincy,  167, 170 

Phineas,  68 

Robert,  68 

William,  94,  95,  98,  99 
Addington,  England,  77 
Addington,  family,  83 
Agassiz  House,  128 
Agassiz  Museum,  163 
Agreement  to  embark  for  New  England,  10 
Albone,  Sister,  60,  93 
Aldrich,  Thomas  Bailey,  118 
Aldus,  Nathan,  54 
Alewife  Brook,  145 
Alexis,  Grand  Duke,  24 
Alford,  Elizabeth,  83 
Allen  —  Cooke  House,  40 
Allen,  Ethan,  125 

James,  86 

Mary  (Cleveland),  80 

Matthew,  40,  50 
Allston  street,  168,  179 
AUston,  Martha  R.  (Dana),  25 

Washington,  25,  137 
"  Ambrose,"  34 
"American  Annals,"  159 
Ames,  Dr.,  51,  160 

Elizabeth,  160 

Ruth,  51 
Amherst,  155 
Amiens,  Siege  of,  2 
Ammunition,  lack  of,  178 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Co.,  86,  159 
Andover,  22,  33,  159,  164 
Andrew,  Samuel,  mariner,  57 

Samuel  the  Younger,  57 

Seeth,  38 

Thomas,  154 

William,  38,  58 
Andros,  Governor,  60,  162 
Angier  House,  51 
An^ier,  Abiel,  37,  143 


Angier,  Dorothy,  58 

Edmund,  51,  58,  148 
Edmund,  Jr.,  37 
Elizabeth,  52 
Hannah  (Oakes),  51 
Ruth,  51 
Ruth  (Ames),  51 
Rev.  Samuel,  51 
Samuel,  Jr.,  52 
Sarah,  52 
Annesley,  Marj'  (Cooke),  40 

Samuel,  40 
Anniversary-,  250th,  of  founding  of  Cambridge, 

16 
Antigua,  88,  96,  111 
Appian  Way,  Cambridge,  66, 128 
Appleton  Chapel,  24,  26 
Appleton  pasture,  28 
Appleton  street,  92 
Appleton,  Captain  John,  43 
Frances,  103 
John,  of  Ipswich,  91 
Nathan,  103 

Rev.  Nathaniel,  13,  19,  165,  166 
Nathaniel  Walker,  8 
Priscilla  (Glover),  43 
Samuel  of  Boston,  26 
Thomas  Gold,  89 
Apthorp  House,  75-80,  106 
Apthorp,  Anne  (Crich),  77 
Charles,  75 
Charles  Ward,  78 
Rev.  East,  75-78,  129 
Elizabeth  (Hutchinson),  75 
Rev.  Frederick,  77 
George,  78 
Grizzell,  75 

Grizzell  (Eastwicke),  75,  130 
James,  129 
Susan,  76,  79,  80 
"Arbella,  The,"  2,  34 
Arlington,  14,  63 
Arlington  Line,  148 
Arnold,  Governor  Benedict,  50 
Freelove,  50 
Godsgift,  50 
Arrow  street,  81,  82,  181 
Ash  street,  6,  84,  92,  94,  95 
Astronomy,  Department  of,  25 


190 


INDEX 


Atkinson,  Theodore,  43 

Attlebo  rough,  156 

Auburn  Grammar  School,  67  note 

Auction  of  text-books,  22 

Austin  Hall,  160 

Austin  House,  149-152 

Austin  street,  177 

Austin,  Catherine  (Gerrj'),  116 

Deborah  (Lee),  109 

Colonel  James  T.,  116 

Jones,  52 

Jonathan  L.,  177 

Martha  (Frost),  151,  152 

Richard,  108 

Rev.  Eichard  Thomas,  68,  152 

Susan,  152 

Thomas,  152 


Bailey,  Mr.,  1?0 

Bainbridge  House,  57 

Bainbridge,  Guy,  57,  126 

Bainbridge,  Justice,  57 

Baker,  Mrs.,  154 

Baldwin,  Loami,  32 

Balehoult,  Lancashire,  England,  61 

Bancroft  House,  94 

Bancroft,  Aaron,  68 

George,  22 

Roger,  94,  95 

Thomas,  68 
Bangs,  Deacon,  Isaiah,  177 
Baptist  Church,  160 
Barbadoes,  153 
Barker,  Caroline  T.,  104 
Barnaby,  Archdeacon  Andrew,  77 
Barnes,  Mrs.,  175 
Barrett  House,  52 
Barrett,  Willi:im,  52 
Barron,  Lucy,  121 

Jonathan,  121 
Bartlett,  Hannah  S.,  179 

John,  8,  68,  155,  179 
Barton's  Point,  184,  185 
Batchelder,  Charles  Foster,  160 

Samuel,  98,  140 

Samuel  Francis,  80,  134 
Bates,  Betsey,  141 

Sergeant  Joseph,  138 

Persis,  141 
Bath,  Earl  of,  166 
Bath  Lane,  see  Ash  street,  94 
Batson,  Sarah,  70,  91 
Battersea  Rise,  England,  142 
Bayliss,  Dr.,  97  note 
Bean,  Cutting,  47 

Susanna  (Stacey),  47 

Thomas,  47 
Beck  Hall,  165 
Bedford,  145 
Beech  street,  7,  144,  182 
Belcher  House,  94-99 
Belcher,  Andrew,  37,  85,  96 


Belcher,  Andrew,  Jr.,  37,  93,  96 

Andrew,  grandson  of  Governor,  98 

Elizabeth,  93 

Elizabeth  (Danforth),  37 

Governor  Jonathan,  37,  83,  96,  137, 140 

Governor  Jonathan,  Jr.,  139 

Martha,  96 

Mary  (Partridge),  96 
Bell  in  first  meeting-house,  11 
Bellingham,  Governor,  49 
Bellingham,  Penelope  (Pelham),  49 
Bellows,  Rev.  Dr.,  102 
Benjamin,  John,  59 
Bennett,  Dr.  David,  of  Rowley,  82 

Rebecca  (Spenser),  82 
Berkelej'  place,  99 
Berkeley  street,  99 
Berkshire  street,  181 
Bernard,  Governor  Francis,  86,  130 
Bertram  Hall,  128 
Besbeech,  Thomas,  70 
Betts,  John,  21,  28,  70-71 
Biddeford,  Maine,  104 
Bigamist,  punishment  of,  60,  61 
Bigelow  estate,  28 
Bigelow,  Alanson,  177 
Bigelow,  Mr.,  177 
Biiboa,  97 
Billerica,  12,  139 
"Bishop's  Palace,"  75-80, 131 
Blackburn,  portrait  by,  76 
Blodgett  House,  52 
Blodgett,  ThoniHs,  52 
Blowers  House,  92,  139 
Blowers,  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Pj'am,  93 

Elizabeth,  93 

Emma  (Woodbury),  93 

Captain  Pyam,  93 

Rev.  Thomas,  93 
Blue  Anchor  Tavern,  36,  37,  60, 155 
Bond,  Richard,  25 
Boott,  Franci:',  89 

Bordman  House,  Cambridgeport,  181-182 
Bordnian  House,  Harvard  square,  54-56  _ 
Bordman,  Mr.,  129 

Aaron,  35,  55,  168 

Abigail  (Hastings),  154 

Andrew,  36,  55 

AndreW;  Jr.,  55 

Andrew,  3rd,  55,  82,  182 

Andrew,  4th,  55 

Elizabeth  (Trusdale),  55 

Marj'  (Townsend),  55 

Moses,  54 

Captain  Moses,  55 

RelDecca,  widow,  53 

Rebecca,  54 

Ruth,  daughter  of  Andrew  Sen.,  55 

Ruth,  daughter  of  Andrew  Jr.,  55 

Ruth  (Bull),  55 

Sarah  (Phips),  55,  82,  182 

William,  54 
Borland  House,  75,  78,  79 


INDEX 


191 


Borland,  Mr.,  44 

Borland,  Anna  (Vassall,)  Mrs.  John,  78,  100, 

111 

Francis,  78 

Jane,  79 

John,  78,  79 

John  Lindall,  78 

Leonard  Vassall,  57 

Samuel,  78 

Thomas,  78 
Boston  Bay,  183 
Boston  Common,  8,  175 
Boston  Court,  held  quarterly,  29 
Boston  Gazette,  86 
Boston  Latin  School,  165 
Bosville,  Elizabeth,  48 

Godfrey,  48 
Botanic  Garden,  149 
Bow  street,  37,  96,  161,  164,  181 
Bowdoin  College,  152 
Bowers  House,  143 
Bowers,  Bemanuel,  143 

Elizabeth  (Dunster),  143 

Elizabeth  (Richardson),  157 

George,  143 

Rev.  James,  of  Billerica,  157 

Jerathmeel,  143 

John,  68 
BoA'lston  Hall,  25,  26,  65  note 
Boylsion  street  (Wood),  1,  4,  6,  8,  33,  54,  60,  84 
Brackett,  Dr.  Joshua,  of  Portsmouth,  94 
Bradford,  N.  H.,  103 
Bradford,  Governor,  105 
Bradish's  tavern,  36,  155 
Bradish,  Ebenezer,  37,  60,  74 

Eunice  (Cooke),  74 

John,  41,  60 

Joseph,  60 

Joseph,  Jr.,  the  pirate,  60 

Robert,  59 

Vashti,  59,  60 

William,  60 
Bradstreet  House,  33-35 
Bradstreet,  Anne  (Dudley),  4,  33-35 

Anne  (Downing)  Gardner,  35 

Mercy,  81 

Rev.  Samuel,  34,  81 

Governor  Simon,  4,  8,  9,  33-35,  81,  ISl 
Braintree,  84,  90,  95 
Braintree,  Essex  Co.,  England,  90 
Braintree  Company,  11 
Braintree  street  (Harvard  square),  1,  8 
Brattle  Hall,  84 

Brattle  House,  19,  84,  89,  98,  155 
Brattle  square  (Creek  Lane),  1,  83 
Brattle  street,  5,   7,  61,  70,  82,  83-111, 121, 126, 

130 
Brattle  Street  Church,  Boston,  85 
Brattle  tomb,  155 
Brattle,  Elizabeth  (Gerrish)  Green,  85 

Elizabeth  (Hayman),  85 

Elizabeth  (Tyng),  85 

Katherme  (Saltonstall),  85 


Brattle,  Martha  (Fitch)  Allen,  86 

Thomas,  85 

Thomas  the  younger,  86,  88,  89,  142 

Rev.  William,  13,  19,  82,  85 

General  William,  85-86,  156 
Bremer,  Frederika,  117 
Brett,  Captain,  109 

Rebecca,  109 
Brew  House,  24 
Brewster,  William,  108 
Bridge,  The  Great,  5 
Bridge,  Anne  (Danforth),  93 

Deacon  John,  59,  70,  93,  95,  125 

Mathew,  93 

Samuel  James,  126,  163 
Bridgewater,  41 

Brig,  Capture  of  Ordinance,  87,  183 
Brighara,  Mercy  (Hurd),  90 

Thomas,  90 
Bright,  Elizabeth,  153 

Deacon  Henry,  of  Watertown,  153 
Brighton,  4,  5,  12,  13 
Brighton  street,  see  Boylston 
British  troops,  route  of,  7,  175,  182-184 
Broadwa}',  164,  165 
Brock,  Sir,  54 
Brooklme,  12 

Brooks,  Phillips,  House,  27 
Brooks,  Peter  C,  26 

Phillips,  22,  27 
Brown,  James,  of  Antigua,  111 

Mary,  of  Lexington,  121 

Susanna,  127 
Brush  Hill,  Milton,  171,  175 
Buckley,  John,  25 
Buckminster  family,  35 
Buildings  in  College  Yard,  plan  of,  24 
Bulfinch,  Dr.,  131 

Charles,  24,  76 

Susan  (Apthorp),  76,  77,  80 

Thomas,  76 
Bull,  Ole,  118 

Ruth,  55 

Samuel,  95,  99 
"Bundle  of  Old  Letters,"  97  note 
Bunker  Hill,  Battle  of,  7,  40,  83,  126,  137,  139, 

159, 174,  178,  183 
Bunker  Hill,  British  entrenched  on,  178 
Bunker,  John,  36,  51 

Rebecca  (Eaton),  36,  51 
Burbeck,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  184 
Burial-place  of  Revolutionary  soldiers,  114 
Burgoyne,  General,  38,  78,  79,  106 
Burgoyne's  officers,  7,  38 
Burgoyne's  prison,  75,  78,  79 
Burgoyne's  troops,  7,  8 
Burke,  Mr.,  captured,  88 
Burnham  Hall,  92 
Burnham,  G.  W.,  68 
Burrington,  Somerset,  England,  171 
Burv,  Lancashire,  England,  61 
BurV  St.  M.arv,  Suffolk,  England,  49 
Burying  Ground,  134-139,  157,  165,  168 


192 


INDEX 


Bush  tavern,  143 
Butler's  Hill,  166,  182, 183 
Byfield,  69 

Cabot,  Andrew,  114 
Cahill,  Captain  Edward.  130 
Cambridge,  England,  10,  21,  53 
Cambridge,  boundaries  of,  streets  of,  1 

name  changed,  21 

"  Thirty  j'ears  ago,"  8,  9 

seat  of  government,  123 
Cambridge  Bay,  view  of,  169 
Cambridge  Farms,  see  Lexington 
Cambridge,  History  of,  159 
Cambridge  Platform,  12 
Cambridge  street,  6,  161,  164,  185 
Cambridgeport,  164,  168,  177,  179-180, 182 
Camp,  Revolutionary,  124,  178 
Campbell,  Elizabeth  (Murray),  171 

Thomas,  171 
Canal,  5,  95 
Cane  houses,  39,  57 
Cane,  Christopher,  39,  57 

Nathaniel,  39 

Ruth,  39 
Canon's,  Ashby,  34 
Cannon  on  common,  125 
Capen,  Priscilla,  43 
Captain's  Island,  4,  179 
Carpenter,  Benjamin,  109 

Deborah,  109 
Carter,  Anna,  144 

Rev.  Thomas,  158 
"  Castle  Corners,"  127 
Carteret,  De,  Abigail,  63 
Causeway,  now  Boylston  street,  6,  7,  33 

now  Gore  street,  182,  183 
Cedar  street,  143,  145 
"Cerberus,  The,"  183 
Chadwick,  Charles,  of  Watertown,  154 

Elizabeth  (Fox),  154 

John  White,  152 
Champney,  Downing,  156 

Joanna,  139 

John,  93 

Joseph,  of  Billerica,  52 

Lydia,  91 

Mary,  93, 157 

Rebecca,  38 

Elder  Richard,  52,  60 

Samuel,  60 

Sarah,  52 

Widow,  93 
Channing  family,  35 
Channing  street,  114 
Channing,  Rev.  William  Ellery,  169 
Charlestown,  4,  5,  21,  63,  85,  97,  144,  157,  165, 

173,  177,  180 
Charlestown  End,  63 
Charlestown  Line,  161 
Charlestown  Neck,  178 
Charlestown  Road,  178 
Charter  Oak,  60,  90 


Charter  street  burying-ground,  Salem,  35 
Chauncy  street,  6 

Chauncy,  President  Charles,  17,  28,  63,  135 
Cheever,  Daniel,  32 

Israel,  32 

Rev.  Samuel,  51 

Ruth  (Angler),  51 
Chelmsford,  36,  121,  143 
Cherry  street,  169  note 
Chesholme,  Deacon  Thomas,  36,  50 
Chester's  company,  132 
Chimneys,  ancient,  94, 107 
Choate,  Charles  F.,  110 

Rufus,  22 
Cholera  House,  55 
Christ  Church,  16,  92,  100, 109,  128-134,  142, 

168,  171 
Church,  Dr.  Benjamin,  97 
Church  Row,  94 
Church  street,  8,  109 
Churches  in  Cambridge,  1904, 16 
Civil  War,  monument  to  soldiers  killed  in,  125 
Clarens,  Mrs.,  92 
Clark,  Christopher,  39 

Elizabeth,  72 

James,  72 

John  Inness,  173 

Lieutenant,  183 

Sally,  157 
Clarke  House,  72 
Clarke,  Elizabeth,  72 

Elizabeth  (Cook),  72,  153 

Elder  Jonas,  72,  57, 153 

Pitt,  68 

Rev.  James  Freeman,  23 

Sarah,  72 
Class  Tree,  27 
Cleveland,  Mary,  80 
Clifton,  England,  101 
Clinton,  General,  184 
Cobb  Brothers,  designers  of  soldiers'  monument 

125 
Cobble  Hill,  183,  184, 187 
Codman,  Captain,  of  Charlestown,  31 
Cogswell  avenue,  147 
Coleman,  Benjamin,  110 

Judith,  110 

Thomas,  68 
College,  see  Harvard  College 
College  Hall,  13 
College  House,  8 
College  Yard,  20-28 
Collins,  Captain,  172 

Edward,  54,  75 
Commencement  Day,  23 
Common,  Boston,  8, 175 

Cambridge,  6,  29,  59,  70,  122-125 
Compton,  Lord,  2,  4 
Concord,  28,  58,  60,  97,  158,  177,  182 
Concord  avenue,  67  note 
Coney,  Mehitable,  162 
Congregational  church,  69 
Congregational  churches,  12 


INDEX 


193 


Congress,  Continental,  166,  167 

First  Provincial,  15,  97,  115,  148 

Second  Provincial,  97  note 
Congressional  burial-ground,  110 
Connecticut,  Governor  of,  42,  90 
Constitution,  Convention  on,  15,  29,  38, 147, 167 
Convalescent  Hospital,  97  note 
Converse,  Anna  (Sparhawk),  36 

James,  68 

James,  of  Woburn,  36 
Cook,  Elizabeth,  72,  153 

John,  169 

Sarah,  Mo 
Cooke-Holynke  house,  72-74 
Cooke,  Alice,  40 

Elizabeth,  40 

Elizabeth  (Stratton),  74 

Eunice,  74 

Colonel  George,  40,  72-73 

Governor,  184 

Joseph,  4,  25,  39,  72-73,  105 

Joseph,  Jr.,  73 

Joseph,  3rd,  73 

Joseph,  4th,  73 

Martha  (Stedman),  73 

Mary,  40 

Rev.  Samuel,  14 
Coolidge  avenue,  120 
Coolidge,  Arcliibald  Carv,  80 

H.  C,  80 

Joseph,  58 

Sarah,  51 

Stephen,  51,  68 
Cooper,  Anna  (Sparhawk),  30,  150 

Elizabeth,  144 

Hannah  (Hastings),  150,  153 

Deacon  John,  36,  141,  144,  149,  150,  151, 
156 

John,  Jr.,  141,  143,  144 

Lydia,  141 

Lj'dia,  daughter  of  John,  156 

Lydia  (Kidder),  150 

M"artha,  150 

Samuel,  150,  151 

Sarah,  144 

Walter,  150 

Walter,  Jr.,  150 

Walter,  3rd,  150 
Cooper  House,  149-152 
Copley  portraits,  8G,  107,  163 
Copp's  Hill,  178 
Corlett,  Elijah,  58,  63-68,  136 
Correction,  House  of,  31 
Cotton,  Elizabeth,  159 

Rev.  John  of  Newton,  159 
County  buildings  in  East  Cambridge,  185 
Counties,  Colony  divided  into,  1643,  29 
Court,  General.  13,  14 

Court-House,  Harvard  square,  15,  30-31,  109 
Court-House,  East  Cambridge,  32,  185 
Courts,  29,  30 
Crackbone,  Gilbert,  144 
Craigie  Bridge,  185 


Craigie  House,  98,  99-104 

Craigie,  Dr.  Andrew,  98,  102,  104,  107,  184 

Elizabeth  (Shaw),  51,  1U2 
Crane,  Jonathan,  68 

Creek  Lane,  now  Brattle  square,  1,  5,  83 
Crich,  Anne,  77 

John,  77 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  73,  75,  81 
Crooked  street,  now  Holyoke,  1,  17,  81 
Crosby  House,  84 
Crosby,  Joseph,  84 

Simon,  84 

Simon,  Jr.,  84 

Rev.  Thomas,  84 

Thomas,  95 
Crown  Point,  artillery  from,  184 
Croj'don,  Surrey,  England,  42,  77 
Cumberland,  Nova  Scotia,  155 
Cunningham,  Anne  Rowe,  177 
Curwin,  Samuel,  113 
Gushing,  George  A.,  68 
Custis,  John  Parke,  101 

Mrs.,  88,  132 
Cutler,  John,  107 
Cutter,  William,  51 
Cutter  family,  63 


Dame  schools  for  girls,  65 

Dana  (Chief  Justice  Francis)  House,  164-170 

Dana  family,  35 

Dana  Hill,  167,  179 

Dana-Peabody  House,  24 

Dana  street  (Highway'  to  the  Common  Pales), 

164,  168 
Dana,  Worcester  County,  168 
Dana,  Daniel,  71,  165 

Rev.  Edmund,  24,  25,  165,  166,  169 

Edmund,  69 

Elizabeth  (Ellery),  165 

Chief  Justice  Francis,  31,  69,  127,  137,  159, 
164-170,  182 

Francis,  Jr.,  127 

Francis,  M.D.,  168 

Lydia,  159 

Lydia  (Trowbridge),  165 

Martha  Remington,  25 

MaryE,,  179 

Miss,  8 

Priscilla,  71 

Richard,  159,  165 

Richard  H.,  Jr.,  170 

Richard  H.,  Sen.,  25,  98,  137 

Richard,  settler,  165 

Sarah  Ann,  69 

Sophia,  127 

Sophia  (Willard),  127 
Dane  Hall,  25 
Dane,  Nathan,  25 
Danforth,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Samuel,  57 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas,  161 

Elizabeth  (Symmes),  56 

Rev.  John,  of  Dorchester,  56 


13 


194 


INDEX 


Danforth,  Judge,  123,  173 

IMary  (Withington),  161 

Miss,  173 

Nicholas,  37,  54,  75,  93,  161 

Dr.  Samuel,  of  Boston,  57 

Judge  Samuel,  56,  57,  68,  113 

Deputy-Goveruor  Thomas,  72,  81,  91, 161, 
162 

Thomas,  Royalist,  57 

Thomas,  schoolmaster,  68 
Danforth  estate,  7,  25 
Danforth  House,  160-163 
Daniel,  Joseph,  141 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  126,  138 
Davenport  House,  143,  146-148 
Davenport  tavern,  146-149 
Davenport,  John,  148 
Davis,  Andrew  McFarland,  61 

Ann,  142 

Captain,  136 

Daniel,  127 

Miss,  170 
T>aye  House,  53 
Daye,  Isaac,  51 

Matthew,  25 

Rebecca,  53 

Stephen,  first  printer,  43,  44,  53,  136 

Stephen,  Jr.,  53,  54 

Susanna  (Meriam),  51 
Deane,  Charles,  104,  105 

Sarah,  102 
De  Carteret,  Abigail,  63 
Dedham,  100 
Dedham,  England,  51 
"Defense,  The,"  48 
De  Grasse,  Count,  107 
Delta,  161-163 
Delaware,  Bishop  of,  107 
Deming,  David,  85 
Derby,  Mrs.,  74 
Devens,  Mary,  170 
Dexter,  Sawyer,  31 
Diary  of  Dorothy  Dudley,  166 
Diary  of  John  Rowe,  172,  173,  175 
Diary  of  Prof.  John  Wiuthrop,  45 
Dickson  House,  145-146 
Dickson,  Edward,  146 

Eunice,  145 

Gilbert,  146 

Henry,  145,  146 

Isaiah,  146 

John, 145 

John,  Jr.,  146 

Sarah  (Cook),  145 

William,  44,  145,  146 
Dinsmore,  Dr.,  97  note 
Divinity  avenue,  163 
Dixon  family,  63 
Dolling,  Mary,  81 
Dorchester,  56 
Dover  street,  37 
Drayton,  166 
Driver,  Stephen  W.,  M.D.,  91 


Driver,  Mrs.,  92 
Drowne,  Deacon  Shem,  140 
Drum  to  summon  people,  10 
Duche,  Rev.  Dr.  Jacob,  88 
Dudley  House,  2,  48-50 
Dudley,  Anne,  4,  33 

Deborah,  4 

Dorothy  (Yorke),  2,  4,  34 

Joseph,  4 

Mercy,  4 

Patience,  4 

Paul,  4 

Captain  Roger,  2 

Sarah,  4 

Samuel,  2,  4,  58 

Governor  Thomas,  2-4,  5,  6,  9,  10,  34,  95, 
181,  185 
Dummer,  Samuel,  32 
Dunlap,  Frances,  119 
Dunster,  David,  54 

Dorothy,  54 

Elizabeth,  62 

Elizabeth  (Harris)  Glover,  43,  61 

Elizabeth,  cousin  of  President,  143 

Henry,  of  Balehoult,  Bury,  England,  61 

Henry,  of  Menotomy,  63 

President  Henry,  12,  21,  23,  28,  40,  43,  54, 
59,  60-63,  110,  135,  136 

Rev.  Isaiah,  63 

Martha  (Russell),  63 

Mary,  110 
Dunster  Primary  School,  67  note 
Dunster  street,  "l,  3,  5,  10,  36,  39,  40,  48-59,  09, 

82, 126,  162 
Dunster's  Bible,  63 
Duxbury,  70 


Eams,  Jonathan,  68 

Earls-Colne,  Sussex,  48 

Earthworks,  179 

East  Cambridge,  9,  16,  114,  181-185 

Eastham,  84 

Eastwicke,  Grizzell,  75 

Eaton,  Benoni,  30,  51,  90 

Nathaniel,  lirst  teacher  of  college,  21,  58,  51 

Rebecca,  51,  91 

Rebecca,  daughter  of  Benoni,  36,  51 

Governor  Theophilus,  50 
Eccles,  Richard,  95 
Edinborough,  Universitj'  of,  45,  87 
Edinborough  Castle,  siege  of,  43 
Eliot  street,  called  Creek  lane,  1,  5,  44 
Eliot,  President  Charles  W.,  22,  26,  28,  62 

Elizabeth  (Gookin),  18,81 

Rev.  John,  Apostle  to  the  Indians,  18,  80,  97 

Rev.  John,  Jr.,  18.  81 

Rev.  Samuel  A.,  Sen.,  62 
Ellery  street,  25,  165.  168 
Ellerv,  Benjamin.  100,  122 

ElisMbeth,  165 

William,  166  and  uote 
Ellsworth  avenue,  6 


INDEX 


195 


Elmwood,  94,  110-119,  139 
Elmwood  avenue,  5,  121 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  27 

Rev.  Mr.,  describes  camp,  177 
Emerson  Hall,  27 
Emery,  Mr.,  schoolmaster,  68 
Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  21,  33,  48 
Empress  Catherine,  167 
English  officer  describes  Cambridge,  177 
Ensign  House,  38 
Ensign,  James,  38 
Episcopal  Theological  School,  92 
Errington,  Anne,  oldest  headstone  in  burj'ing- 

ground,  136 
Estaing,  Count  d',  45,  102 
Eustis,  Benjamin,  93 

Elizabeth  (Hill),  93 

Governor  William,  93 
Everett  House,  Dorchester,  111 
Everett,  President  Edward,  22,  23,  28, 102,  127, 
170 

Prof.  William,  22,  160 


<'  Fair  American,"  107 
"Fair  Harvard,"  122,  127 
"Faire  Grammar  Schools,"  64 
Faneuil,  Mrs.  Mary,  130 
Farleng,  Goodman,  50 
Farmington,  Conn.,  70,  75 
Farrar,  Luther,  68 

Rev.  John,  163 
Farnsworth,  James  D.,  68 

Mary,  120 
Farrington,  Thomas,  72 
Farweil  Place,  33,  91,  130 
Far  well.  Deacon  Levi,  35,  92 
Farwell's  Corner,  33 
"  Father  of  the  College,"  85 
Fay,  Samuel  Phillips  Prescott,  127 
Fayerweather  House,  110 
Faj'erweather,  Anne,  83,  110 

Hannah  (Waldo),  46,  83,  110 

Rev.  Samuel,  110 

Sarah,  110 

Thomas,  46,  83,  110 

Thomas,  Jr.,  110 
Fayette,  Marquis,  45 
Feich,  Katherine,  128,  157 
Fellows  Orchard,  25,  28,  54 
Felton,  President  Cornelius  Conway,  22,  25,  28, 

103,  16.3 
Fence,  The  College,  28 
Fence  Viewer,  85 

Ferry,  end  of  Dunster  street,  1,  4,  5 
Fessenden,  Nicholas,  Jr.,  51,  68 

Sarah  (Read),  92 

Rev.  William,  92 

William,  68 
Field,  Old,  164 

Field,  Philip,  negro  servant,  161 
Fillebrown,  Edward,  138 
Firelocks  confiscated,  78 


First  houses  in  East  Cambridge,  180-185 
Fisher,  Thomas,  71 
Fiske,  David,  141 
John,  141 

John,  the  historian,  9'- 
Lydia  (Cooper),  141 
Fitch  House,  143 
Fitch,  Abel,  145 
Eunice,  127 
Martha,  86 
Thomas,  86 
Timothy,  142 
Fitchburg  Railroad,  155 
Flint,  Deborah,  108 
Floating  batteries,  183 
Flynt,  Tutor  Henry,  135 
Fogg,  Elizabeth,  27 

Major  Jeremiah,  151 
Rev.  Jeremiah,  150,  151 
Fogg  Art  Museum,  27 
Fo'llen,  Rev.  Charles,  142 
Folsom,  Cliarles,  74,  135 
Forbes,  John  Murray,  176 

Mrs.,  175 

Ralph  Bennet,  176 
Ford,  Simon,  169 
Fort  No.  1.    Riverside  Press,  179 

No.  2.    Butler's  or  Dana's  Hill,  179 

No.  3.    Prospect  Hill,  Somerville,  179 
Fort  Putnam,  4,  33,  179,  184, 185 
Fort  Washington,  4,  168,  179,  180 
Fortifications  on  Charles  River,  4,  179  183 
Forts  in  Medford  and  Somerville,  179 
Foster,  Andrew,  25 

Bossenger,  98,  107,  160 

Charles  Chauncy,  160 

Elizabeth,  98 

Dr.  Isaac,  97,  98 

Dr.  Joseph,  97  note 

Joseph,  107,  160 

Richard,  .32 

Dr.  Thomas,  24,  28,  57 

William,  97 
Fourth  street,  184 
Fownell,  Thomas,  61 
Fox  House.  157-160 
Fox,  Jabez,  158,  150 

Rev.  Jabez,  lo8,  159 

Rev.  John,  Ib'J 

Judith  (Reyner),  158 

Rebecca,  154 

Thomas,  154 
Foxcroft  House,  160-1G4 
P'oxcroft,  Daniel,  102 

Elizabeth  (Danforth),  161 

Judge  Francis,  161,  162 

John,  162 

Mehitable  (Couey),  162 

Sarah  (Deane),  162 
Francis,  Alice,  156 

John,  156 

Lvdia  (Cooper),  156 

Richard,  156 


196 


INDEX 


Francis,  Stephen,  156 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  166 
Freeman,  James,  142 
Freese,  John  VV.,  68 
Freeman,  Harriet,  114 
French  House,  52 
French,  Daniel  C,  126,  163 

William,  52 
Fresh  Pond,  52,  115 
Frizell  House,  94 
Frizell,  John,  96 

Mercy,  96 
Front  street,  168 
Frost,  David,  138 

Ebenezer,  143 

Edmund,  52,  151 

Deacon  Gideon,  144,  151 

Hannah  (Cooper),  151 

Martha,  152 

Neptune,  139,  144 

Sarah,  152 

William,  151 
Fuller,  Margaret,  89,  169 

Timothy,  89 
Fund  for  care  of  Fort  Washington,  179 


Gage,  General,  15,  86 
Gage's  troops,  182 
Gallow'sHill,7,  31,  149 
Gamage,  Deborah  (Wjeth),  156 

Dr.,  140 

Joshua,  156 
Gannett  Hall,  153 

Rev.  Caleb,  89,  155,  160 

Elizabeth  (Latham),  155 

Joseph,  155 

Katharine  (Wendell),  89 

Ruth  (Stiles),  155 
Garden  street,  8,  57,  93,  126,  141,  149,  157 
Garfield  street,  143 
Gardner,  Mrs.  Anne  (Downing),  35 

Col.  Thomas,  121 
Gardner's  regiment,  60 
Gates,  General,  88,  97 

Mrs.,  88 
Gay,  Hannah,  71 

John,  164 

Sarah,  widow  of  John,  164 
Gearner,  Edmund,  40 

"  George  Washington  Memorial  Gatewaj^,"  126 
Germains,  Lord  George,  77 
Germanic  Museum,  164 
Gerry,  Hon.  Elbridge,  107,  114,  116 

Catherine,  116 
Geyer,  Fred,  98 
Gibson,  Samuel,  50 
Gilman,  Rev.  Samuel,  122,  127 
Glover,  3 

Elizabeth,  43 

Elizabeth  (Harris),  43-61 

George,  43 

Henry  R..  143 


Glover,  Colonel  John,  101 

Dr.  John,  43 

Rev.  Josse,  42,  43,  44,  53 

Priscilla,  43 

Sarah,  wife  of  Rev.  Josse,  42 

Sarah,  43 
Goddard  House,  144 
Goddard,  Benjamin,  70,  144,  149 

Charles  H.,  146 

Daniel,  144 

Elizabeth  (Frost),  144 

Eunice  (Dickson),  146 

John,  144,  146 

Martha,  150 

Martha  (Palfrey),  70 

Nathaniel,  144 

Stephen,  144 

Thomas,  138,  144 

William  of  Watertown,  70 
Goffe,  the  Regicide,  81 

Edmund,  156,  164,  165 

Edward,  21,  25,  28,  54,  60,  61, 164, 165 

Mary,  165 

Samuel,  165 
Goffe's  College,  21 
Goodwin,  John,  32 
Gookin  Houses,  71,  80-84 
Gookin,  Captain,  50 

Major  General  Daniel,  18,  75,  80,  81,  136 

Elizabeth,  18,  81 

Hannah  (Tyng),  81 

Mary,  71 

Mary  (Dolling),  81 

Priscilla  (Dana)  Hill,  71 

Rev.  Nathaniel,  13, 18,  81,  136 

Captain  Samuel,  13,  32,  71 

Susanna  (Parker),  71 
Gore  street.  East  Cambridge,  182 
Gore,  Christopher,  25,  165 
Gove,  Elizabeth  (Waldin)  Batson,  70 

John,  70 
Grammar  School,  64-67 
"^  Graves  his  Necke,"  181 
Graves,  Thomas,  180-182 
Gravesend,  County  of  Kent,  England,  180 
Gray,  Professor  Asa,  141 

Francis  Galley,  26 

Mrs.  George  Zabriskie,  92 

John  Chipman,  26 

William,  26 
Grav's  Hall,  21,  26 
Great  Bridge,  The,  5,  6,  33 
Great  JNIarsh,  The,  182 
Great  Salt,  The,  43 
Great  Swamp,  Highway  to,  149 
Green  street,  Boston,  72 
Green,  Bartholomew,  85,  95 

Bethia,  38 

Widow  Elizabeth,  95 

Elizabeth,  154 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Gerrish),85 

Ellen,  154 

Ensign,  39 


INDEX 


197 


Green,  Marshal  General  John,  38,  58,  154,  155 

Jonathan,  58 

Rev.  Joseph,  85 

Percival,  50,  85,  154 

Ruth,  38 

Ruth  (Mitchellson),  58 

Sarah,  84 

Samuel,  95,  136 
Greene,  General,  175 
Greenhill  House,  44 
Greenhill,  Samuel,  44,  71 
Greenleaf  estate,  128 
Greenleaf,  James,  'JO 

Mary  of  Boston,  82 

Mary  (Longfellow),  90 

Professor  Simon,  90 
Gridley,  31 
Groton,  89,  91 
Gymnasium,  Old,  164 


Haddon,  Widow  Katharine,  52 
Hagburne,  Katherine,  4 

Samuel,  4 
Half-Crown  Lot,  67 
Half-Moon  batteries,  179,  183 
Hale,  Edward  Everett,  22 
Halifax,  86,  101,  105,  114 
Hall,  John,  154 
Hampshire  street,  55 
Hancock  House,  56 
Hancock,  Belcher,  155 

Elizabeth,  155 

Joanna,  56 

John,  Signer  of  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, 15,  56,  97,  167 

Madame  John,  105 

Rev.  John,  "Bishop,"  56,  68 

John,  Jr.,  56 

Mary  (Torrey),  155 

Molly,  67  note 

Nathaniel,  37,  56,  155 

Rev.  Nathaniel  of  Tisbury,  155 

Prudence,  93,  155 

Samuel,  son  of  "Bishop  John,"  56 

Solomon,  155 

Torrey,  138,  155 
Hannah  Winthrop    Chapter,   D.   A.  R.,   122, 

189 
Harlackenden,  Elizabeth,  48 

Elizabeth  (Bosville),  48 

Emlen,  48 

Mabel,  42,  48 

Margaret,  48 

Richard,  48 

Roger,  42,  48,  49, 136 

William,  48 
Harrington,  see  Errington 
Harris,  Elizabeth,  43,  61 

Richard,  43 

Thaddeus  William,  74 

William  Thaddeus,  137 
Harrison,  Peter,  130 


Hart,  Stephen,  72 

Hartford,  England,  35 

Hartford,   Connecticut,  11,  35,  38,  40,  51,  54, 

59,  60,  71,  72,  75 
Harvard  College,  3,  9,  11,  19,  20-28,  43,  107, 

108,  169 
Harvard  Hall,  22,  24 
Harvard  square,  formerlv  Braintree  street,  1,  8, 

9,  10,  30,  33,  59,  60,  82,  92,  109, 165, 182 
Harvard  street,  165,  169,  177 
Harvard  Union,  165 
Harvard,  John,  statue  of,  163 
Harwich,  63 
Hastings  House,  153 
Hastings,  Abigail,  55,  154 

Ciiristina  (Wainwright),  159 

Daniel,  92 

Edmund  T.,  179 

Elizabeth,  179 

Elizabeth  (Cotton),  159 

Hannah,  149,  153 

Hannah  (Moore),  90 

John,  90,  95,  139,  159 

John,  "Seaborn,"  90 

John  of  Ash  street,  92 

Major  John,  159 

Dr.  John,  153 

John,  Jr.,  51 

Jonathan,  "Yankee,"  159 

Steward  Jonathan,  159 

Jonathan,  3rd,  159 

Jonathan,  20,  68 

Lydia  (Champney),  91 

Lydia  (Dana),  159 

Mary,  139 

Mary  (Meane),  90, 153 

Rebecca,  51 

Samuel,  90 

Sarah  (Meane),  90, 153 

Sarah  (Sharp),  153,  159 

Seth,  139 

Stephen,  91 

Deacon  Walter,  72,  90, 149, 153 

Dr.  Walter,  159 
Hasty  Pudding  Club,  22,  63 
Haugh  Farm,  82 
Haugh  House,  180-182 
Haugh,  Atherton,  181 

Rev.  Samuel,  181 

Samuel,  Jr.,  181 
Haven,  Elizabeth  (Foster),  98 

Judge  Samuel  B.,  98 
Hawthorn  street,  94,  95,  99,  100 
Hayman,  Elizabeth,  85 

Nathaniel  of  Charlestown,  85 
Haynes,  Governor  John,  42,  48 

"  Mabel  (Harlackenden),  42,  48 
Hayward,  Professor  James,  163 
Healy,  William,  jail  keeper,  32 
Heate  House,  57 

Heath,  General  William,  79,  184, 185 
Hedge,  Lemuel,  68 

Levi,  44 


198 


INDEX 


Hedge,  Mary  (Holyoke),  44 

Hemeiiway  Gymnasium  (Harvard),  21,  160 

Hemenway  Gymnasium  (Radcliffe),  128 

Hemenway,  Mrs.  Mary,  128 

Henry  of  Navarre,  2 

Hicks  Houses,  38,  58,  162 

Hicks,  Bethia  (Green),  38 

Elizabeth  (Sill),  38 

Elizabeth  (Nutting),  58 

Hannah,  47 

John,  38 

John,  Jr.,  killed  bv  British,  38,  58^  138, 139, 
147 

Dr.  Jonathan,  58 

Joseph,  38 

Margaret,  38 

Rebecca  (Champney),  38 

Rebecca  (Palfrey),  38 

Ruth  (Green),  38 

Seeth,  38 

Zechariah,  38,  57 

Zechariah,  Jr.,  38 
Higginson  House,  160 
Higginson,  Stephen,  Jr.,  160 

Colonel  Thomas  Weutworth,  111,  140,  160, 
166,  170 
High  Sheriff  of  Middlesex,  82 
Highway  to  the  Common  Pales,  168 
Highway  to  the  Great  Swamp,  149 
Highway  to  Watertown,  84 
Hill  (Aaron)  House,  92 
Hill-Cooper  House,  149 
Hill,  Deacon  Aaron,  92,  93,  139 

Dr.  Aaron,  Jr.,  94 

Abraham,  93,  139 

Benjamin,  71 

Harriet,  94 

Jacob,  127 

Jonathan,  150,  151 

Jonathan  Cooper,  150, 151 

Joseph,  72 

Lydia,  150, 151 

Marj'  Timmins  Quincj"-,  94 

Persis  (Munroe),  72 

Priscilla,  71 

Priscilla  (Dana),  71 

Prudence  (Hancock),  93,  155 

Nathaniel,  155 

Sarah,  127 

Susanna,  94 

Susanna  (Tainter),  93 

Tabitha,  71 

Thomas,  94 

President  Thomas,  26,  28 

William,  94 
Hilliard  street,  89 
Hilliard,  Rev.  Timothy,  16,  20,  74 

Mrs.  Timothj',  74 
Hoar,  George  Frisbie,  23 

President  Leonard,  28 
Hoebling,  England,  33 
Holbrook,  Moses,  68 
Holden  Chapel,  23 


Holden  House,  52 
Holden,  Justinian,  52 

Margaret  (Cutter),  151 
Mary  (Rutter),  52 
Samuel  of  England,  23 
Holland,  167 
HoUis  Hall,  22,  23,  24,  86 
Holliston,  141 
Hoiman  family,  150 
Holman,  Mary,  127 
Holmes  House,  158-160 
Holmes  place,  5,  6,  7,  90,  143, 153-160 
Holmes  family,  35 

Holmes,  Dr.  Abiel,  16,  20,  80, 106,  159,  161,  165 
John,  143,  152,  160 
Oliver  (Wendell),  22, 128,  158-160 
Sarah  (Wendell),  20,  159 
Holten,  Dr.,  97  note 
Holworthy  Hall,  24 
Holworthy,  Sir  Matthew,  24 
Holyoke  street,  formerly  Crooked  street,  1,  8, 

17,  31,  59-75,  81, 144 
Holvoke  place,  6,  72 

Holyoke,  President  Edward,  23,  26,  28,  44,  74, 
135 
Mrs.,  dower  house  of,  74 
Edward  A.,  44 
Elizabeth,  44 
John,  135 
Hooker's  Company,  11,  17,  35, 38, 42,  44,  50,  51, 

54,  70,  75 
Hooker  House,  17 
Hooker,  Joanna,  17,  136 

Rev.  Thomas,  4,  11,  35,  59,  60 
Hooper  House,  108-109 
Hooper,  Dr.  Henry,  108 
Hopkins  Classical  School,  65  note 
Hopkins  Classical  Teacher,  65  note 
Hopkins  Charity,  64,  65 
Hopkins,  Edward,  64,  65  note 
Hopkins,  John,  51 

Bishop  John  Henrj',  169 
Hopkinson,  Francis,  87 

Mary,  87 
Hopkinton,  4 

Hoppin,  Rev.  Nicholas,  134 
H'^pitals,  Military,  97  note.  111,  114 
Hosmer,  George  W.,  152 
House,  President's,  23,  26,  61,  02 
Houghton,  Henry  0.,  168 
Hovey,  Abiel,  37 
John,  37,  68 
John,  Jr.,  37 
Joseph,  09 
Howard,  Caroline,  122 
Joseph,  41 
Samuel,  122 
Hubbard,  Margaret,  142 
Hungaria,  180 

Hunt,  John,  house  of,  used  as  hospital,  44 
Joseph,  97  note 

Mercv  (Hurd)  Brighara,  Rice,  90 
William  of  Concord,  90 


INDEX 


199 


Hurd,  Merc_v,  90 

Hutchinson,  Governor,  76,  77,  131,  166 

Judge,  31 

Mrs.  Anne.  11 

Eliakim,  7fi,  77 

Elizabeth,  76 

Frances.  77 

Katy,  77 

Margaret,  "  Peggy,"  77 

Indian  Bible,  21,  39 
Indian  College,  21 
Indian  graduate  of  Harvard,  21 
Indians,  figures  of,  82 

Gookin  friend  of,  80,  81 

in  grammar  school,  64 
Inns  and  innkeepers,  36 
Inman  estate,  182 
Inman  House,  171-177 
Inman  street,  171,  175 

Inman,  Elizabeth  (Murray)  Campbell,  Smith, 
171-176 

Rev.  George,  171 

George,  171,  172 

Hannah  Rowe,  171 

Mary  Ann  Riche,  171 

Ralph,  12'J,  165,  168,  171-176 

Sally,  172 

Sallie  Coombe,  171 

Susanna,  "  Sukey,"  171 

Susanna  (Speakman),  171 

Susan  Linzee,  171 
Ipswich,  England,  IGO 
Ipswich,  4,  29,  33,  34,  39,  94 
Ireland,  Abraham,  133 

Nathaniel,  127 
Irving  street,  1G4 
Ives,  Mr.,  77 
Ivry,  battle  of,  2 


Jackson,  President,  24 

Richard,  91 
Jail,  list  of  keepers,  32 
Jails,  31,  32 
Jamaica,  81,  142 
James  street,  128 
Jarvis  street,  6 
Jarvis,  Leonard,  168, 169,  176 

Nathaniel,  143,  161 
Jeffries,  Mary  (Gookin)  Kettle,  71 

Jeffries,  Joseph,  71 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  107 
Jenks,  Mr.  William,  79,  133 
Jenner,  Dr.,  142 
Jennison  House,  139 
Jennison,  Miss,  school  of,  140 

Dr.  Timothy  Lindall,  79,  139,  140 
Jerseys,  The,  87 

Jesus  College,  Cambridge,  England,  129 
Jesus  College,  Oxford,  England,  76 
"Jewell,"  34 
"John  of  London,"  43,  53 


Jones'  Hill,  7, 149 
Johnson,  Marmaduke,  39 

Ruth  (Cane),  39 
Johnston  Gate,  27 
Johnstone,  Sir  William,  166 


Kempster  House,  52 
Kempster,  Daniel,  52 

John,  of  Necdum,  England,  52 
Kendall,  Daniel,  68 

Samuel,  68 
Kennedy  avenue,  107 
Kensington,  N.  H.,  150 
Kent,  England,  80,  91 
Kent,  Benjamin,  68 
Ketch  "Adventure,"  93 
Kettle,  James,  71 

Mary  (Gookin),  71 
Kidder,  Lydia,  150 
Kidder's  Lane,  145 
Kildare,   bishopric  of,  declined  by  Rev.  East 

Apthorp,  77 
King's  Chapel,  Boston,  130,  142,  171 
King's  Highway,  5,  6,  7,  94 
King  Charles  the  Second,  81,  90 
King  James  the  Second,  90 
King  Philip's  war,  81,  90 
King,  Rufus,  165 

Starr,  152 
Kingston,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  38 
Kinnaird,  Lord,  166 
Kinnaird  street,  168 
Kirkland  street,  5,  7,  144. 160,  161 
Kirkland,    President   John    Thornton,   23,  28, 

161,  170 
Kittery,  Maine,  36 
Kittredge,  Dr.  Francis,  97  note 
Knacker,  85 
Kneeland  House,  78 
Kneeland,  Elizabeth  (Holvoke),  44 
Lydia,  44 
Mary,  44 
Solomon,  44 
Dr.  William,  44,  147 
Knight,  John.  60 

Knox,  General  Henry,  60,  121,  125,  184 
Lucy  F.,  121 

Lafayette  (see  Fayette),  16,  24 

Lamson  House,  156 

Lamson,  BaruHbas  or  Barnaby,  156 

Joseph,  156 

Martha,  156 

Mary,  156 

Sarah,  156 
Langdon,  John,  181 

President  Samuel,  23,  28,  46,  124 
Landing  of  the  British,  175,  182,  183 
Langhorne  House,  84 
Laijghorne,  Thomas,  85 
Latham,  Carv,  95 

Elizabeth  (Masters),  95 


200 


INDEX 


Latin  Grammar  School,  67,  152 
Lavincourt,  John,  of  Antigua,  122 

Lucy  (Vassal]),  122 
Lawrence  Hall,  92 
Lawrence  Scientific  School,  160 
Lechmere  Bridge,  114 
Lechmere  House,  82,  104 
Lechmere  Point,  7,  87, 114,  121,  179,  182-185 
Lechmere  Point  Corporation,  32,  185 
Lechmere  Slave  Case,  166 
Lechmere,  Margaret,  79 

Mary  (Phips),  Mrs.  Richard,  82,  100,  105, 
111,  182 

Mary,  109 

Lord  Nicholas,  105 

Richard,  82,  105,  108,  109,  111,  182 

Thomas,  105,  130 
Lee  Hospital,  97 
Lee  House,  41 
Lee,  Abigail,  109 

Alfred,  Bishop  of  Delaware,  107 

Benjamin,  107 

General  (Charles),  88,  101 

Deborah,  108,  109 

Elizabeth  (Leighton),  107 

George,  Gardner,  110 

Hannah,  107 

Jane  (Miller),  "  Ladv  Lee,"  106,  137 

Judge,  Joseph,  82,  104,  108,  109,  129,  132, 
142,  182 

Judith  (Coleman),  110 

Lois  (Orne),  110 

Louisa,  110,  142 

Rebecca  (Phips),  82,  109,  182 

Thomas,  of  Boston,  108 

Thomas,  of  Salem,  109,  141 

"  English  "  Thomas,  105,  106,  137 

Thomas,  son  of  Benjamin,  107 

Thomas,  Jr.,  110 

William  Coleman,  110 
Leonard,  Rev.  Abiel,  133 
Leslej',  Susan  L,  177 
Lev^erett  family,  83 
Leverett  street,  Boston,  184 
Leverett,  President  John,  26,  28,  85,  107,  135 
Lewis,  Ezekiel,  110 

George,  101 

Susanna  (Ruggles),  110 

William,  70 
Lexington,  5,  13,  28,  33,  38,  60,  86,  110,  139, 

157, 177,  182 
Library,  Harvard,  22,  25 
Lincoln,  96 

Earl  of,  2,  34 
Linden  street,  75 
Linnaean  street,  7,  122,  149,  152 
Linzee,  Captain  John,  171,  172 

Admiral  Samuel  Hood,  171 

Susanna  (Inman),  171,  172 
"Lion,"  The,  90 
Livermore,  Hannah,  38 

Isaac,  170 

Solomou  K.,  68 


Lloyd,  Dr.  James,  88,  97 

Locke,  President  Samuel,  23,  28,  46 

Logan,  Abigail,  144 

Longfellow,  Frances  (Appleton),  103 

Henry  Wadsworth,  89,  102,  108,  152, 163 

Mary,  90 

Samuel,  152 
Longfellow  House,  99 
Longfellow  Park,  95 
Long  lane  (Winthrop  street),  1 
Long  pasture,  168 
Lopez,  Catherine,  39 
Lord,  Richard,  40 

Lottery  Ticket,  Harvard  College,  28 
Love  lane,  149 
Lovell,  James,  68 
Lowell,  Blanche,  118 

Rev.  Charles,  116 

Frances  (Dunlap),  119 

James  Russell,  9,  103,  111,  116,  119 

John,  116,  117 

Mabel,  118 

Maria  (White),  117,  122 

Walter,  118 
Lunenburg,  152 
Luxford,  James,  60-61,  95 

Margaret,  95 

Reuben,  95 
Lyceum  Building,  Harvard  square,  8,  30 
Lynde,  Justice,  31 
Lynn,  windmill  at,  43 


Mack,  David,  of  Salem,  170 

Magdalen  College,  Cambridge,  61 

Man  of  Ross,  portrait  of,  89,  160 

Mandamus  Councillors,  36,  86,  109,   112,  113, 

123,  142 
Manly,  Captain,  183 
Manning,  Brother,  11 

Elizabeth  Bell  (Warland),  80 

Samuel,  Jr.,  59,  80 

William,  70,  138 
Mansfield,  Daniel,  68 
Marblehead,  51,  101,  115 

regiment,  101 
Marcy,  William,  139,  147,  157 
Market  House,  9 
Marlborough,  90,  92, 175 
Marlebor'h,  Jack,  176 
Marrett  family,  63 
Marrett  House,  57 
Marrett,  Abigail,  39,  40 

Abigail  (Tidd),  110 

Amos,  110 

Amos,  Jr.,  110 

Captain  Edward,  40,  57 

John,  96 

Mary  (Dunster),  110 

Deacon  Thomas,  57,  96 
Marsh  lane,  now  Eliot  and  South  streets,  1,  2 
Marsh,  Tutor  Thomas,  135 
Marshall,  115,  167 


INDEX 


201 


Marshfield,  49 
Martyn,  Rev.  John,  40 

Rev.  Richard,  85 
Mason  House,  40 

Mason  street,  5,  57,  92,  93,  126,  155 
Mason,  Anne  (Fayerweather),  83,  110 

Rebecca  (Williams),  83 

Robert  Means,  92 

Thaddeus,  40,  83,  110,  156 

William,  68 
Massachusetts  avenue,  6,  25,  05,  143,  148, 160, 

165,  171,  177 
Jlassachusetts  Bay  Companj'-,  180 
Massachusetts  Council,  166 
Massachusetts  Hall,  22,  23,  62 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  83 
Masters,  Elizabeth,  95 

John,  5,  95 
Mather,  Rev.  Cotton,  2 

President  Increase,  19,  28 
Matthews  Hall,  26 

Nathan,  26 
Mayhew,  Rev.  Jonathan,  76, 131 
McKay  House,  80 
McKay,  Gordon,  83 
McKean,  Amy  Elizabeth,  127 

Joseph,  127 
Meane  House,  153 
Meane,  Ann,  90,  153 

John,  90, 153 

Mary,  90,  153 

Sarah,  90,  153 
Medfield,  141 
Medford,96,156 
Medical  Headquarters,  94 
Medical  School  of  Pennsylvania,  98 
Medicinal  Spring,  84 
Medicine  Chests,  96,  97 
Meeting  Houses,  10-16 
Mellin  estate,  151 
Mellin,  Edward,  68 

Rev.  John,  89 

Martha  Fitch  (Wendell),  89 
Memorial  Hall,  163 
Menotomy  or  Wenotomie,  39,  63,  182 
Menotomy,  Road  to,  14, 143,  149,  151 
Mercury,  Transit  of,  45 
Meriam,  Robert  of  Concord,  51 
Merriam,  H.  C,  68 
Merrimac  River,  12 
Mexico,  53 
Meyer  Gate,  27 

George  von  L.,  27 
Middlesex  Convention,  97 
Middlesex,  County  of,  9,  29 
Mifflin,  Sarah,  87 

Major  Thomas,  87,  183 
Mile  Stone,  Old,  138 
Jlilitary  Service,  122 
Milk  Row  Road,  7,  182 
Miller,  Jane,  106 
Miller's  River,  182 
Milliard,  William,  68 


Milton,  171,  175 

John,  11 
Minute  Men  Monument,  139 
Misticke  Pond  and  River,  63 
Mitchell,  Rev.  Jonathan,  12,  13,  17,  26,  63,  81, 

136 
Mitchellson,  Edward,  58 

Ruth,  58 
Mob,  September  1774,  100,  105,  123 
Monis  House,  39,  83,  106 
Monis,  Abigail  (Marrett),  40 

Professor  Judah,  14,  39,  40 
Moore  family,  51 
Moore  House,  139 
Moore,  Abel,  133,  143 

Francis,  69,  91 

Francis,  Jr.,  69 

Golden,  93,  139 

Joanna  (Champney),  93,  139 

John,  69 

Deacon  Josiah,  139,  143 

Hannah,  91,  139 

Mar>'  (Hastings),  139 

Nancv  (Warland),  139 

Sarah  (Warland),  143 

Thomas,  69 
Morgan,  Dr.  John,  87,  98 

Mary  (Hopkinson),  87 
Morrill,  Abraham,  47 
Morris,  Gouverneur,  166 

Morris  of  Philadelphia,  87 

Sarah,  87 
Morse,  Catharine,  158 

Susan,  158 

Royal,  158 

William,  52 
Mosely  family,  83 
Motley,  John  Lothrop,  84 

I\Iount  Auburn  street,  called  Spring  lane,  1,  6, 
10,  31,  88,  42,  69,  75,  81,  84,  95,  121,  144,  lUl 
Mount  Vernon,  101 
Jlount  Wollaston,  11 
Moylan,  Colonel,  184 
Munroe,  President,  24 

Houses,  92 

Deacon  Jame.   92 

Persis,  72 
Murray,  Elizabeth,  17^ 

James,  171,  174,  17'i 
Museums,  163,  164 
Muzzy,  Widow  Hester,  60 


"Nancy,"  brig  captured  by  Captain  Manly, 

88,  183 
Nason,  Elias,  68 
Naw,  Secretary  of,  180 
Necic,  The,  Cambridgeport,  6,  164,  169,  181 
Negro  servants  or  slaves,  41,  98,  162,  170 
Negro  woman  burned  alive,  31 
Nelson,  Robinson,  Jr.,  Hall,  27 
New  Brick  Meeting  House,  Boston,  140 
Newbury,  51,  52 


202 


INDEX 


Newburyport,  98,  101, 117, 131,  151 

New  castle-on-Tyiie,  51,  70 

"New  England  Prospect,"  extract  from,  1 

New  England  First  Fruits,  extract  from,  20 

Newfoundland,  45 

New  Hall,  see  Stoughton  Hall 

New  Hampshire,  College  in,  86 

New  Hampshire,  General  Assembly  of,  77 

New  Hampshire,  Governor  of,  96 

New  Jersey,  Governor  of,  96 

New  Lecture  Hall,  163 

New  London,  -iO,  95 

Newman  Patience,  36 

Rev.  Samuel,  36 
Newport,  R.  I.,  142 
Newton,  5,  12,  69 

Newtowne.  1,  t",  17,  21,  29,  180,  181 
Newell,  Postmaster,  83 

Elizabeth,  109 

Samuel,  68, 

Rev.  William,  111,  156 
Nicholls  House,  107-109 
Nicholls,  Mr.,  143 
Nichols,  George,  109 

John,  109 
Nicolls,  Judge,  2,  4 
Niles,  Helen  N.,  80 
Ninigret,  expedition  against,  136 
Norfolk,  48 

North  avenue,  see  Massachusetts  ave. 
North  End,  Boston,  8 
North,  Lord,  1G7 
Northbnrough,  40 
North  Cambridii-e,  70,  148 
Northampton,  Eiigland,  2,  34 
Norton  House,  164 
Norton,  Professor  .\ndrews,  164 

Professor  Charles  Eliot,  117,  164 
Nova  Scotia,  105,  139 
Nuttall,  Thomas,  141 
Nutting,  Elizabeth,  58 

Jonathan,  58 

John,  143 

Philip,  68 
Nursing,  Cambridge  School  for,  168 


Oakes,  Hannah,  51 

President  Urian,  18,  28,  50,  135 
Oak  Tree,  elections  held  under,  6,  123 
Observatorv  grounds,  132 
Old  Field,  164 
Oldham,  Anne,  70 

Mar}',  91 
Oldest  College  building  standing,  22 
Oliver-Phips  House,  80-83 
01iver-Gerr3--Lowell  House,  110-119 
Oliver,  Judge,  77 

Ann,  111 

Elizabeth,  100,  111 

Elizabeth  (Vassall),  96,  100,  111 

Fanny,  77 

Frances,  112 


Oliver,  Harriet  (Freeman),  114 

Dr.  James,  81,  85 

Lucy,  112 

Mary,  112 

Mercy  (Bradstreet),  82 

Penelope,  112 

Peter,  85 

Robert,  100,  110,112 

Sarah,  82 

Lieutenant-Governor  Thomas,  96,  111-114, 
123,  129 
Orne,  Caroline  F.,  122 

Lois  (Pickering),  110 

Thomas,  110 
Osgood  and  Farrington,  8,  72 
Ossoli,  Countess  d',  see  IMargaret  Fuller 
Otis  street,  181, 184 
Otis,  Harrison  Gray,  31,  165 
Owen,  John,  8 
Oxford,  93 
O.Kford  street,  6,  161 
Ox  pasture,  160 


Packard,  Asa,  68 
Hezekiah,  68 
William,  116 
Paine,  John,  21 
William,  21 
Palfrey,  John,  38,  54 
Martha,  70 
Rebecca,  38 

Rebecca  (Boardman),  54 
Colonel  William,  132 
Palisades,  6 
Palmer  street,  31 
Palmer,  Stephen,  8 
Paris,  Francis  Dana  sent  to,  167 
Parish,  First  divided,  16 
Parker,  Rev.  Dr.  of  Boston,  131 
Anne,  71 

Ebenezer  of  Stoneham,  157 
Henry  J.,  68 
John, 95 

Captain  Josiah,  51,  71,  91 
Judith,  95 

Mary  (ILincock),  155 
Nathaniel,  69 
Obediah,  68 
Robert,  95 
Parnell,  Elisha,  68 
Parks,  Isabel,  155 
Richard,  155 
Parsonage,  18,  28,  85,  165 
Parsons,  Theophilus,  31,  150,  165 
Partridge,  Lieutenant-Governor  William,  96 

Jlary,  96 
Pasture,  Long,  168 
Patrick  House,  39 
Patrick,  Captain  Daniel,  39 
Pattin  or  Patten,  John,  95 
Luxford,  95 
Margaret  (Luxford),  95 


INDEX 


203 


Pattin  or  Patten,  Rebecca  (Rubbins),  95 

William,  95 
Payne,  Moses,  59 
Peabody  Museum,  163 
Peabody,  Kev.  Andrew  P.,  25 
Rev.  Francis  G.,  161 
Deacon  Nathaniel,  43 
Pearson,  Eliplialet,  "4,  159 
Peck,  Professor  William  Dandridge,  128 
Pelham  House,  33-43 
Pelham,  Edward,  49,  50 
Edward,  Jr.,  50 
Henry.  49 
Herbert,  35,  49,  50 
Herbert,  Jr.,  49 
Nathaniel,  49 
Penelope,  49 

Thomas,  son  of  Edward,  50 
Waldegrave,  49 
Pembroke,  63 

Pennel,  Mr.,  brings  powder  to  camp,  83 
Pepperell,  Elizabeth,  36 
Sir  William,  -36 

William,  mandamus  councillor,  36 
Percy,  Lord,  5,  33 
Percy's  troops,  148 
Philadelphia,  36,  87,  101 
Perigord,  100 
Phillips  Brooks  House,  built  by  contributions, 

27 
Phillips  family,  35 
Phillips,  General,  38 
Phillips  House,  164 
Phillips,  Hannah  Brackett  (Hill),  94 
Harriet  (Hill),  94 
Rev.  John,  160 

John,  first  mayor  of  Boston,  164 
Margaret  (Wendell),  164 
Lieutenant-Governor  Samuel,  164 
Sarah  (Walley),  164 
Timothy,  32  " 
Wendell,  164 
WiUard,  94,  102 
William,  164 
Phips  Houses,  40,  80-83,  97  note,  163,  181 
Phips  or  Phipps,  Colonel  David,  32,  30-83,  111, 
129,  131,182 
Elizabeth,  82,  96,  100 
Mary,  82,  105 
Rebecca,  82,  109 
Sarah,  55,  82 

Lieutenant-Governor  Spencer,  55,  32,  100, 
105,  111,  181 
Pierce,  Mark,  75 
Mercy,  144 
Proctor,  68 
William,  54 
Pierpont,  Elizabeth  (Angier),  52 

Rev.  Jonathan  of  Reading,  52 
Pigeon,  John,  1-32, 1-32  note 
Pinckney,  115,  167 
Pine  Grove,  179 
Planting  field,  164 


Pleasant  street,  25, 169 
I'loughcd  Hill,  183 
Plymouth  street,  55,  181,  182 
Plympton,  Sylvanus,  80 
Plympton  street,  75 
Pomeroy,  Samuel  William,  154 
Pond,  Common,  59 
Poor's,  Colonel,  regiment,  151 
Porter's  Hotel,  144 
Porter,  Israel,  38,  143 
Post,  Thomas,  52,  69 
Postmasters,  83,  92 
Pratt,  Dexter,  89 

Prentice  Houses,  126,  127,  128, 141 
Prentice-Bates  House,  141 
Prentice  or  Prentiss,  Abigail  (Logan),  144 
Prentice,  Benjamin,  116 
Caleb,  8 

Catherine  (Felch),  128,  157 
Elizabeth  (Rand),  141 
Eunice  (Fitch),  127 
Henry,  56,  126-127,  141 
Joanna,  127 
John,  127 
Rev.  Joshua,  141 
Mary,  56 
Nathaniel,  144 
Sarah  (Hill),  127 
Prentiss,  Jonas,  144 

Mercy  (Pierce),  144 
Nathaniel,  138 
Samuel,  138 
Solomon,  141,  144 
Susanna  (Brown),  127 
Prescott,  Colonel,  assembled  his  men  on  Cam- 
bridge Common,  124 
Prescott  the  Historian,  22 

James,  32 
Presidents  of  Harvard,  list  of,  28 
Presidents  buried  in  Harvard  square,  135 
Presidents,  Houses  of,  23,  25,  26,  55 
Presidential  Elector,  115 
Prince  of  Wales,  visit  of,  24 
Prince  William  Henry,  Duke  of  Clarence,  107 
Printing-press,  first  in  America,  43,  53 
Probate,  Registry  of,  removed   to  East   Cain- 
bridge,  32 
Proctor,  Richard,  51 
Professor's  Row,  163 
Propagation  of  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  Society 

for,  76,  129 
Propagation  of  Gospel  among  the  Indians,  So- 
ciety for,  21,  49 
Propagation  of  Gospel  in  New  England,  39 
Prospect  Hill,  173,  179,  183 
Providence,  R.  I.,  69 
Province  House,  140 
Provincial  Congress,  see  Congress 
Pump  in  College  Yard,  27 
Putnam  Fort,  179,  184 
Putnam  Hospital,  97  note 
Putnam  School,  184,  185 
Putnam,  Daniel,  175 

General  Israel,  75,  175,  173,  183,  13-5 


204 


INDEX 


Putnam,  Kufus,  38 
Pyne  swamp,  157 


Quakers,  81 

Quarry  Hill,  Charlestown,  112 

Quebec,  130,  157 

Queen  Elizabeth,  2 

Querci,  100 

Quick,  Elizabeth  (Cooke),  40 

Rev.  John,  40 
Quincy  square,  104 
Quincy  street,  26,  163,  164,  165 
Quincv,  Edmund,  81,  105 

Elizabeth  (Gookin),  Eliot,  81 

Esther,  105 

Hannah,  94 

President  Josiah,  23,  28 

Samuel,  94 
Quineboquin,  name  of  Charles  River,  4 
Quinn,  Mr.,  184 


Radcliffe  College,  9,  127,  128 
Rand,  Dr.,  97  note 

Elizabeth,  141 

Mary,  157 
Randall  Hall,  163 
Randall,  John,  68 
Randolph  Hall,  80 
Randolph,  Edmund,  101 
Read  (Reed),  House.  91-92 
Read,  Hannah  (Stacey),  91 

James,  91 

James,  Jr.,  91,  130 

James,  3rd.,  91,  92 

James,  4th,  92 

Joseph  Stacey,  92 

Mary  (Oldham),  91 

Sarah  (Batson),  91 
Beading,  52,  143 
Rebellion  Tree,  27 
Redding,  Joseph,  72 
Red  Lion  Inn,  143 

Redwood  Library,  Newport,  R.  I.,  130, 142 
Redwood,  Abraham,  142 
Reed  Hall,  92 
■Reeniy,  Marcus,  8 
Remington  Houses,  37,  94 
Remington,  Jonathan,  37,  59,  74.  96 

Jr.,  Judge  Jonathan,  96, 137, 166 

Jonathan,  3rd,  135 

Martha  (Belcher),  96 
Remington  street,  165,  1G8 
Repudiation  of  debts,  167 
Rejmer,  Rev.  John,  158 
Revere,  Paul,  121 
"  Revolutionary  Congressman  on  Horseback," 

166  note 
Revolutionary  Hospitals,    39,  40,  44,  97   note, 

114,  111 
Revolutionary  Soldiers,  graves  of,  114, 138,  139 
Rhode  Island,  89 


Rice,  Edmund,  90 

Mercj'  (Hurd),  Brigham,  90 
Richards,  Nathaniel,  72 
Richardson  House,  156 
Richardson  House,  Dorchester,  111 
Richardson,  Elias,  157 

Elizabeth  (Bowers),  157 
Elizabeth  (Swan),  157 
Ezekiel,  157 
Katherine,  157 
Mary  (Charapney),  157 
Mary  (Rand),  157 
Moses,  93,  128,  139,  147,  157,  158 
Moses,  Jr.,  147, 157 
Raham,  157,  158 
Ruth  (Swan),  157,  158 
Samuel  of  Woburn,  157 
Sally  (Clark),  157 
Theophilus,  93,  157 
Thomas  of  Woburn,  157 
Riedesel,  Baron  von,  Hessian  General,  7,  104- 

106 
Riedesel,  Baroness  von,  78,  100,  105-106 
Riudge,  Frederick  H.,  177 
Ripley,  Sophia  (Dana),  Mrs.  George,  127 
Robbins  Public  Library,  Arlington,  14 
Robbins,  Nathan,  145,  146 

Rebecca,  95 
Robinson,  Nelson,  27 
Rodnej',  Admiral,  107 
Rogers,  President  John,  28 
Roscoe,  John,  142 

William,  60 
Roseland  street,  144 
Rowe,  Jack,  175 

John,  171,  172,  173,  175 
Hannah  (Speakman),  171 
Roxbury,  4,  8,  76,  97, 179 
Royall,  Penelope,  96 
Royal  Society,  London,  85 
Ruggles,  Captain  George,  110 
Susanna,  110 
Susanna  (Vassall),  110 
Russell,  Chambers  of  Lincoln,  105 
Russell,  Dr.,  Charles,  96 
Elizabeth  (Vassall),  96 
Hobart,  182 

James  of  Bristol,  England,  109 
Jason,  63,  139,  182 
(Jonathan),  50 
Martha,  63 

Mary  (Lechmere),  109 
Marj'  (Richardson),  157 
Nathan,  Jr.,  92 
Thomas,  102 
William,  157 
Russia,  Dana,  minister  to,  167 
Rutter,  John  of  Sudbury,  52 
Marv,  52 


Saint  DuxsTANS-in-the-West,  London,  81 
Saint  James's  Church,  148 


INDEX 


205 


Saint  John,  New  Brunswick,  105,  174 

Saint  John's  Chapel,  92 

Saint  Joseph,  Sisters  of,  83 

Saint  Paul's  Church,  69,  83 

Saint  Paul's  Cathedral,  London,  77 

Saint  Peter's  Church,  Philadelphia,  87 

Salem,  29,  35,  108-109,  IGO 

Salisbury,  47 

Saltonstall,  Governor  Gurdon,  85 

Katherine,  85 
Sander's  Theatre,  163 
Sanders,  Daniel  Clarke,  68 
Saratoga,  106 

Sargeant,  Colonel,  174,  175 
Sargeant,  Rev.  Winwood,  132,  142 
Saunders,  Martin,  95 

Robert,  58 

William  Augustus,  66,  140,  143 
Savage,  Habijah,  81 
Sawtell,  Anna,  69 

John, 69 
Scales,  Abraham,  68 
School  court,  67  note 
School  houses,  63-69 
School  masters,  names  of,  68 
Scituate,  62,  70,  135 
Second  street,  183 

Seiders,  Rev.  Reuben,  see  Austin,  R.  T.,  68,  152 
Semitic  Museum,  164 
Sessions,  Miss,  44 
Sever  Hall,  27 
Sever,  Mrs.  Ann,  27 

Colonel  James  Warren,  27 
Sewall  Houses,  26,  28,  105-108 
Sewall,  Judge,  31,  54 
Sewall,  Elizabeth  (Alford),  83 

Esther  (Quincy),  105 

Jonathan,  105 

Rebecca  (Wigglesworth),  26 

Stephen,  68,  105 
Shady  Hill,  164 
Shapieigh,  Samuel,  68,  135 
Sharp,  Sarah,  153 
Shaw,  Rev.  Bezaleel,  102 

D.  P.,  92 

Elizabeth,  102 

Robert  G.,  23 
Shawshine  lands,  53 
Sliepard  street,  128 

Shepard  Memorial  Church,  16,  93,  139-140 
Shepard,  Edward,  71 

Jeremv,  54 

John,  71 

Joanna  (Hooker),  17 

Margaret,  136,  171 

Samuel,  54,  75 

Rev.  Thomas,  11,  12,  41,  48,  75,  136, 160 
"  Sheppard,  John,  husbandman,"  73 
Sherborne,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  41 
Shirley  House,  Roxburj',  76 
Shirley,  Governor,  76 
Slirewsbury,  England,  165 
Sign-post,  143 


Sill,  Elizabeth,  38 

John,  38 
Silver,  increase  in  value  of,  96 
Simpson,  Jane  (Borland),  79 

Jonathan,  79 

Jonathan,  Jr.,  79 

Margaret  (Lechmere),  79 
Skidmore  House,  47 
Skidmore,  John,  47 

Thomas,  47 
Slave  suit,  Lechmere-Sewall,  105,  166 
Slocum,  Mr.  Samuel,  185 
Small  Lot  Hill,  164 
Smibert  portraits,  163 
Smith,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  121,  182,  185 

Elizabeth  (Murray)  Campbell,  171 

Katherine  (Richardson),  157 

James,  157,  171 
Smithy,  Village,  89 
Snow  Brothers,  9 
Society  for  Propagation  of  Gospel   in  Foreign 

Parts,  76,  129 
Society  for  the   Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 

New  England,  39 
Society  for    the    Propagation    of    the   Gospel 

among  the  Indians,  21,  49 
Soden  Farm,  169,  182 
Sohier,  William  D.,  107 
Soldiers'  Jlonuments,  125,  139 
Somerville,  182, 184 
Somerville  convent  burnt,  153 
Somerville  line,  6,  161 
Sons  of  Liberty,  165 
Southampton,  England,  2 
Southern  Club,  57 
South  street  called  Marsh  lane,  1,  2,  3,  40,  59, 

72 
Spain,  King  of,  167 
Spalding,  Henry  G.,  80 

Sirs.  Lucy  W.,  80 
Sparhawk,  Anne  or  Anna,  36,  150 

Elizabeth  CPepperell),  36 

Esther,  36 

Rev.  John,  36,  68 

Kathenne,  36 

Mary,  36 

Patience  (Newman),  36 

Nathaniel,  35,  36,  37,  94,  150,  156,  158 

Sybil,  36 
Sparks,  President  Jared,  23,  28,  102,  163 
Spear,  Thomas,  135 
Spencer  House,  44 
Spencer,  Thomas,  44 

Rebecca,  82 
Sprague,  Joseph,  36 

Spring  lane,  now  Mount  Auburn  street,  1 
Spring  street,  182 
Spring,  Susanna,  121 
Squire's  wharf,  83 
Stacey  Hannah  (Hicks),  47 

Hannah,  91 

Rev.  Joseph,  47,  91 

Susanna,  47 


206 


INDEX 


Stacey,  Thomas,  47 

Thomas,  Jr.,  47 

Thomas,  3d,  47 
Stack  chimneys,  32.  41,  94,  107 
Stage  for  Boston,  54 
Stanley  House,  52 
Stanley,  Timothy,  52 
States,  Committee  of,  167 
Steadman,  Eben,  C8 
Stearns,  Professor  Asahel,  163 

John,  138 

Rebecca  (Gibson),  127 
Stebbins,  Edward,  54 
Steadman,  Cato,  139 

Ebenezer,  52 

John,  43,  73,  136 

Martha,  73 
Steele,  George,  54,  59 

John,  59 
Stephen,  Leslie,  119 
Stevenson,  Andrew,  32 
Steward,  Antipas,  68 
Stewart,  Charles,  68 
Stiles,  Ezra,  155 
Stocking,  George,  70 
Stone,  D.,  68 

Daniel,  57 

Elizabeth,  GO 

Gregorj-,  122,  136,150 

Mrs.  Lydia,  150 

Rev.  Samuel,  11,35,60 

Simon,  122 
Stoneham,  157 
Story  street,  89 
Story,  Judge  Joseph,  89,  169 

William,  W.,  90,  110 
Stoughton,  Lieutenant-Governor  William,  22 
Stoughton  Halls,  22,  24 
Stoughton,  Mrs.,  99 
Strafton,  Ebenezer,  73 

Elizabeth.  74 

John, 111 
Streets  of  Cambridge,  early  names  of,  1 
Sudbury,  52,  155 
Sullivan's  Expedition,  151 
Sullivan,  Richard,  127 

Richard,  Jr.,  127 
Sumner,  Charles,  22,  103 
Surgeons  in  Revolution,  97  note 
"  Susan  and  Ellen,"  84,  154 
Sutton,  38 
Sutton,  England,  42 
Swedenborgian  Chapel,  163 
Sweet  Auburn,  121 
Sweetman  land,  28 
Swan,  Elizabeth,  157 

Gershom,  157 

John, 157 

Ruth,  157 
Symkin,  Nicholas,  60 
Symmes,  Elizabeth,  56,  93 

Rev.  Thomas,  93 
Svnod  meets  in  Cambridge,  11 


Tablets,  memorial,  in  Cambridge,  2,10,  26,  28, 

53,  68,  89,  124,  183,  185 
Tainter,  Susanna,  93 
"Talbot,  The,"  34 
Talcott,  John,  90 
John,  Jr.,  90 
Governor  Joseph,  90 
Tappan,  Rev.  Christopher  of  Newbury,  52 
Professor  David,  74 
Sarah  (Angier),  52 
Taunton,  England,  106 
Taverns,  36,  50 
Taylor,  Dr.,  97  note,  149,  151 
Tajior,  Edward  of  Boston,  95 

Joseph,  138 
Tea  in  Boston  Harbor 
"Tenth  Muse,  The,"  34 
Temple,  Robert,  129 
Tewksbury,  55 
Thacher,  Dr.,  James,  97  note 
Thatched  roofs  forbidden,  1 
Thatcher,  Ebenezer,  121 
Lucy  F.  (Knox),  121 
Mary  (Brown),  121 
Mary  (Farnswortli),  120 
Colonel  Samuel,  121 
Deacon  Samuel,  120 
Samuel,  Jr.,  120 
Susanna  (Spring),  120 
Thatcher's  Company  of  Minute  Men,  121,  139, 

144,  155 
Thaj'er  Commons,  156 
Thayer  Hall,  26 
Thayer,  John  Eliot,  26 
Nathaniel,  26,  156 
Third  street,  182,  184 
Thomas,  Priscilla  (Capen),  43 
Thomaston,  Maine,  121 
Thompson,  Colonel,  183 

Rev.  William  of  Braintree,  84 
Thomson,  Charles,  115 
Thorndike  street,  184 
Ticonderoga,  Artillery  from,  184 
Tidd,  Abigail,  110 
Daniel,  110 
Hepzibah  (Reed),  110 
Tiffany,  Nina  Moore,  177 
Tilden,  Hannah  Rowe  (Innian),  171 

William,  171 
Tisbury,  155 
Tobago,  94 
Todd,  Pavmaster  John  P.,  94,  142 

Susanna  (Hill),  94 
Tolman,  Farr,  46 

Hannah  (Fayerweather),  46 
Torrey,  Rev.  Josiah  of  Tisbury,  155 

Marv,  155 
Tory  Row,  7,  94-121, 131,  182 
Town  drummer,  56,  85 
Town  grant  to  Harvard,  21,  28,  IGO 
Town  spring,  84 
Towne  houses,  40-41,  57 
Towns,  Elizabeth,  40 


INDEX 


207 


Towne,  Joanna,  40 

Peter,  Jr.,  40 

William,  first  sexton,  41,  57,  126 
Townsend,  Elizabeth  (Phillips),  46 

James,  46 

Mary,  56 

Rebecca,  46 

William  Blair,  56 
Train,  Isaac,  32 
Tracy,  Nathaniel,  98,  101 
"Travellers  and  Outlaws,"  166 note 
Trecothiek,  Barlow,  75,  77 
Trowbridge  House,  69 
Trowbridge-Dana  tomb,  137 
Trowbridge,  Judge  Edmund,  25,  31,  69,  137, 
165,  166,  167,  163 

Lvdia,  25,  165 

Mary  (Goffe),  165 

Thomas,  25 
Trowbridge  street,  168 
Truesdale,  Elizabeth,  55 

Richard,  55 
Trumbull,  portraits,  163 
Tyler,  Royall,  165 
Tyng,  Edward,  51,  81 

Hannah,  81 
Turnpike,  6,  7,  143-149 

Usher,  Hezekiah,  first  bookseller  in  the  colony, 

58 
Underground  river,  84 
Unitarian  Church,  16 
University  Hall,  24 
University  Press,  84 
Upham,  Mary  U.,  163 


Vaccination,  introduced  by  Dr.  Waterhouse, 

142 
"Valentine,  Mr.,  74 
Valley  Forge,  Mr.  Dana  visits,  166 
Van  Brunt,  Henr.r,  163 
Van  Buren,  President,  24 
Vane,  Sir  Harry,  20,  42,  123 
Vassalls,  Du,  Barons  of  Guerden,  100 
Vassal!  Tomb,  136 

Vassall  Houses,  94-99,  99-104, 121-122,  142 
Vassall,  Ann  (Davis),  142 

Anna,  78 

Elizabeth,  96,  100,  111 

Elizabeth  (Phips),  82,  96,  100,  182 

Elizabeth  (Oliver),  100,  111 

Henry,  95,  96,  110,  111,  121, 129,  142 

Colonel  .John,  82,  95,  100, 101,  104, 121, 136, 
142,  182 

Colonel  .John,  Jr.,  96,  100,  101,  111,  129 

Lucv  (Barron),  121,  122 

Lucy,  121,  122 

Major  Leonard,  96,  109,  142 

Margaret  (Hubbard),  142 

Penelope  (Royall),  96-99,  111 

Ruth,  96 

Susanna,  109 


Vassall,  William,  109,  142 

Venus,  Transit  of,  45 

Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  114 

Village,  The,  9 

Vinal,  Mr.,  177 

Volunteers,  First  Regiment  of,  153 


Wadswohth  House,  23,  101 
Wadsworth,  President  Benjamin,  23,  28,  55, 135 
Joseph,  60 
Ruth  (Bordman),  55 
William,  60 
Walcott  House,  142 
Walcott,  Dr.  H.  P.,  142 
Wainwright,  Christina,  159 

Rev.  Jonathan  Mayhew,  133 
Waitt,  Andrew,  170 
Waldegrave,  Thomas,  49 

Sir  William,  49 
Waldo,  Cornelius,  108 
Mrs.  Faith,  108 
Hannah,  83 
Walker,  President  James,  28 
Walley,  Sarah,  164 

Thomas,  164 
Walton,  John,  143 

Lieutenant  Joshua,  138 
War,  Secretary  of,  180 
War  of  1812,  lb,  16 
Ward,  General,  147,  159 

Headquarters  of  General,  7,  20,  159 
Ware,  Henry,  68 

Professor  Henry,  163,  164,  170 
Professor  William.  68,  142,  170 
William  Robert,  163 
Warren,  Charles,  68 

General  Joseph,  M.D.,  139,  159 
John,  97  note 
Mrs.  James,  45,  47 
Mrs.  Mercy,  114 
Mr.  Winslow,  135 
Warren,  Maine,  121 
Warland,  Anne  (Parker);  71 
Elizabeth  Bell,  80 
Hannah  (Gay),  71 
Mary  Bell,  8*0 
Nancv,  139 
Owen,  71,  79,  139,  143 
Sarah,  143 
Tabitha  (Hill),  71 
Thomas,  79,  80 
William,  71 
Warner,  Joseph  B.,  110 
Washington  Elm,  5.  124 
Washington  Hospital,  97  note 
Washington  School,  67,  68 
Washington  street,  Boston,  61,  181 
Washington  street,  Roxbury,  4 
Washington,  Fort,  4,  179,  180 

General  George,  23,  46,  88,  93,  99,  107,  178 
Mrs.  George,  88,  101,  132 
Washington's  Headquarters,  23,  99-104 


208 


INDEX 


Watch  Hill,  57 
Waterhouse  House,  132,  142 
Waterhouse  street,  6,  12-1,  141,  149 
Waterhouse,  Dr.  Benjamin,  110,  140,  142 

Louise  (Lee),  110,  142 
Water  street,  now  Dunster,  1,  3,  48-59 
Waterston,  Helen,  104 
Watertown,  5,  38,  48,  51,  70,  87,  96,  153,  154 

Highway  to,  84,  90,  101 
Watertown  line,  108,  111 
Watertown  meeting-house,  97 
Watson  Houses,  38,  143,  146-149 
Watson,  Abiel  (Angier),  37,  148 

Abraham,  147,  148 

Catherine  (Lopez),  39 

Daniel,  148 

Elizabeth  (Whittemore),  39 

Isaac,  37,  148 

Jacob,  32,  146 

Lieutenant  John,  138 

Susanna  (Wyeth),  39 

William,  39 
Wayland,  152 
Weathercock,  140 

Webber,  President  Samuel,  8,  23,  28,  68, 135 
Webster,  Professor  John,  92 
Weld  Hall,  26 
Weld,  Stephen  Minot,  26 

William  Fletcher,  26 
Wellington,  Timothy,  68 
Wells,  Maine.  85 
Wells,  William,  111 
Welsh,  Dr.,  170 
Wendell  street,  142 
Wendell,  Jacob,  82,  164 

John  Mice,  88,  155 

Katherine,  88,  155 

Katherine  (Brattle),  88,  155 

Margaret,  164 

Martha  Fitch,  89 

Judge  Oliver,  20,  159, 169 

Sarah,  20 

Sarah  (Oliver),  82 
Wenotomie,  see  Menotomy 
Wentworth,  Governor  Benning,  77 
Wesson,  Mr.,  114 
West  Boston  Bridge,  169 
West  Cambridge,  5 
West  End,  90 

Western,  Mrs.  Frances  (Bollan),  168 
West  Indies,  96,  141 
Westminster,  40 
Westwood,  William,  70 
Wethersfield,  Conn.,  132 
Whalley,  the  Regicide,  81 
Wheat,  Dr.  Samuel,  of  Needham,  92 
White,  John,  75 

Maria,  117,  122 

Thomas  Joyce,  92 
Wbitefield  Elm,  situation  of,  123, 142 
Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  14,  123 
Whiting,  Dr.,  97  note 
Whitraore,  Francis,  155 


Whitmore,  Isabel,  155 
Whittaker,  Jonathan,  68 
Whittemore  House,  38 
Whittemore,  Abigail  (De  Carteret),  63 

Mrs.  Almira  T.,  14 

Elizabetli,  39 

Hannah  (Livermore),  38 

Deacon  Henry,  14 

Margaret  (Hicks),  38 

Deacon  Samuel,  38 

Captain  Samuel,  39 
Wigglesworth  House,  1,  17 
Wigglesworth,  Professor  Edward,  26,  36,  135 

Professor  Edward,  Jr.,  26,  28 

Rebecca,  26 

Sybil  (Sparhawk),  36 
Wilcox,  William,  95 
Willard's  Hotel,  54 
Willard,  Professor,  74,  170 
Willard,  President  Joseph,  23,28,  107,  127,  135 

Joseph  A.,  179 

Penelope,  179 

Major  Simon,  58 

President  Samuel,  28 

Sophia,  127 
William  and  Mary,  silver,  131 
Williams,  Rebecca,  83 

Professor  Samuel,  109 
Willis's  creek  (Miller's  river),  182,  185 
Willows,  Dudley-Lowell,  6 
Wilson,  Rev.  John,  123 
Windmill  Hill,  6,  tiO 
Windmill  lane,  see  Ash  street 
Wine  cellars  looted,  78 
Winlock,  Anna,  94 

Professor  Joseph,  94,  142 
Winship,  Edward,  155 

Elizabeth,  155 

Jason,  139 
Winslow,  Governor  Josiah,  49 

Penelope  (Pelham),  49 
Winsor  street,  56 
Winsor,  Justin,  104 
Winter  Hill,  106,  155 
Winter,  William,  44 
Winthrop  Hall,  92 
Winthrop  House,  80-83,  181 
Winthrop  square,  41,  42,  61 
Winthrop  street  (Long  lane),  10,  38,  40,  44,  58, 

60,  162 
Winthrop,  Adam,  43 

Deane,  43 

Elizabeth  (Glover),  43 

Madame  Hannah,  44,  46,  47,  110,  111 

Judge  James,  46,  74 

Governor  John,  2, 3,  10,  45,  74,  121, 122,  517 

Professor  John,  44-47,  83,  84,  110 

Mary,  58 

Rebecca  (Townsend),  46 

Sarah  (Glover),  43 

Wait,  105 

William,  46,  74,  83 
Wise,  John,  50 


INDEX 


£09 


Witchcraft  trials,  32 

Withington,  Mar}',  161 

Woburn,  36,  158,  159,  181 

Wolfe,  General,  157,  158 

Wood  Church,  Kent,  48 

Wood  street,  see  Boj-lston  street 

Wood-3'ard,  site  of,  24,  27 

Woodbiir_v,  Emma,  93 

Worcester  County,  163 

Worcester,  Enfcland,  Bishop  of,  87 

Worcester  House,  103 

Worcester,  Amv  Elizabeth  (McKean),  127 

F.  A.,  68 

Joseph  Emerson,  103,  127 
Wreutham,  England,  161 


Wright,  Luther,  68 
Wyeth,  Deborah,  156 

Ebenezer,  39 

Elizabeth  (Hancock),  155 

John,  155 

Rebecca,  155 

Susanna,  39 

William,  156 
Wyman,  Jabez,  139 

Dr.  Morrill,  152 


"Yankee  Jonathan, 
Yorke,  Dorothy,  2 
Young,  Joshua,  80 
Mary  E.,  80 


154 


INDEX  TO  APPENDIX 


Austin,  Loring,  187 

Badger,  Mary,  188 
Banbridge,  Guy,  187 
Bigelow,  Abraham,  186 

Abraham,  Jr.,  186 

Abraham,  3rd,  186 

Amelia  H.,  186 
Blue  Anchor  Tavern,  186 
Bradish-Bigelow-Owen  House,  186 
Bradish,  Ebenezer,  186 

Ebenezer,  Jr.,  186 

Eunice  (Cooke),  186 
Brattle  square,  186 
Brattle  street,  187 
Brattle,  Thomas,  heirs  of,  186 
Bury,  Lancashire,  England,  186 

Cambridge  Bridge,  186 
Causeway,  186 
City  Building,  186 
Coolidge,  Josiah,  187 

DuNSTER,  Henry,  186 

Elmwood  avenue,  187 
Episcopal  Theological  School,  187 
Erikson,  Leif,  supposed  site  of  house  of,  188 

Fekry,  Upper,  187 

Gerry's  Landing,  187 
Gerry,  Elbridge,  187 
Goffe,  Mrs.  Edward,  187 
Grenada,  W.  L,  188 


U 


Hancock,  Torrey,  186 
Harvard  College,"l86 
Hayes  House,  187 
Hayes,  John  L.,  187 
Hewitson,  Rev.  William,  186 
Hildebrun,  Charles  R.,  188 
Hilliard-Story  House,  186 
Hilliard  street,  186 
Hilliard,  William,  186 
Horsford,  Prof.  Eben  Norton,  188 

Inman  House,  188 

Inman,  George,  188 
John  Freeman,  188 
Ralph,  son  of  George,  188 

Kempster,  Daniel,  187 

Lancaster,  186 
Leake,  John,  188 

Mason  street,  187 

Moore,  Deacon  Josiah,  186 

Mount  Auburn  street  cut  through,  187 

Oliver's  Landing,  187 
Orne-Austin-Hayes  House,  187 
Orne,  John  G.,  187 

Sarah,  187 
Owen,  John,  186 

Paine,  Hannah,  186 

Saltonstall,  Sir  Richard,  187 
Smithy,  Village,  186 


210 


INDEX   TO   APPENDIX 


stone,  Rev.  John  S.,  187 

Story  House,  186 

Stoiy,  Judge  Joseph,  186 

TuiNiTY  Churchj-ard,  New  York,  188 

Watektown,  187 
Way,  Sir  Richard's,  187 
Wild,  Mr.,  187 


Wilkinson,  Isabel,  187 
Jane,  187 

Willis,  Stillman,  187 

Wilson,  Forsj-the,  187 

Winship,  Lieutenant  Edward,  187 
Mrs.  Elizabeth,  187 
Jane  (Wilkinson),  187 
Joanna,  school-dame,  187 

Worcester,  18G 

Wyeth  place,  186 


Copies  of  the  Hannah  Winthrop  Chapter,  D.  A.  R.,  Historic  Guide 
to  Cambridge  may  he  obtained  of  Airs.  Mary  I.  J.  Gozzaldi,  96  Brattle 
street,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts. 


